The Gainesville Sun, The Bob Graham Center at the University of Florida, and the Alachua County League of Women Voters sponsored a panel on the over abundance of required tests in Florida public schools. Moderated by Nathan Crabbe, the panel included Superintendent of Schools Dr. Owen Roberts, Dr. Sue Legg, President, Alachua County League of Women Voters, Susan Bowles, Alachua County Teacher of the Year, and Shan Goff, Policy Director of the Florida Foundation for Excellence in Education.
The discussion was wide ranging. Questions were raised about the validity of the new Florida Standards Assessment, the rationale for and impact of annual testing, the use and misuse of achievement test scores for teacher and school accountability. Dr. Roberts spoke about the need for quality preschool educational programs rather than tests that do not help children learn. He laughed and said: If you want to help a pig gain, you feed it. You don’t just keep weighing it. Children’s brains need to be nourished, not measured to make them expand. You can watch the video here.
Sandy Stenoff posted this comment on Facebook:
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Thank you, Sue. You and Susan Bowles did a wonderful job of standing up for our kids. These kinds of community gatherings need to be happening all over the state. Parent groups can work together to facilitate this. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of much more to come.
The quote was one I adapted from Colleen Wood, another amazing woman fighting for our kids.