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Leon Schools To Eliminate District-Created, End-of-Course Tests

The Leon County School District says it's getting rid of all the new end-of-course tests it created under a law that tied student learning growth to teacher evaluations. Governor Rick Scott recently signed off on a bill that scales back that sort of testing, and Leon has become the latest school district to roll back it's exams.

School districts across the state had started creating end-of-course exams to comply with the state's teacher evaluation law. That led to sharp public outcry that schools were testing too much. The district tests fed in to concerns about the implementation of new statewide exams students are mandated to take.

The Florida legislature took action this year to rollback exams, and Governor Rick Scott signed the legislation into law.

Now, students are only mandated to take state-created end-of-course exams in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Civics, US History, and Biology I--tests they take in High School. Students will still have to take the new Florida Standards Assessment in certain grade levels, but all other end-course exams (largely in K-8th grade) are gone.

According to the school district, Leon County Superintendent Jackie Pons will announce the changes during Tuesday evening's school board meeting.

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Lynn Hatter is a Florida A&M University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Lynn has served as reporter/producer for WFSU since 2007 with education and health care issues as her key coverage areas.  She is an award-winning member of the Capital Press Corps and has participated in the NPR Kaiser Health News Reporting Partnership and NPR Education Initiative. 

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