Florida has a bigger problem than opt outs: early this morning many districts experienced major technological problems with the state exams.
Miami-Dade (the largest district in the state), Palm Beach County, Pasco County, and Okaloosa County have suspended testing due to computer failures.
Look for updates here on the Facebook page of Parents Across Florida.
https://www.facebook.com/ParentsAcrossFlorida?ref=hl
Jeb Bush, the father of Florida’s punitive testing and accountability system, was expecting to get a big boost for his campaign from the Common Core testing. He is the leading proponent of computer-driven everything; his Foundation for Educational Excellence (now headed by Condaleeza Rice) is funded by major tech corporations who are heavily invested in educational software and hardware.
Here is the first story about the breakdown of state testing in major school districts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Karma, even if a small dose, feels good.
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Florida officials knew the tech issues were on the horizon but played “fake it till you make it”– and they aren’t “making it”:
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“Slow connectivity & bandwidth concerns should have been anticipated & tested for under real load conditions as state prepared for testing.”
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I predicted this months ago.What do you expect when you are using antiquated computers and the rest of the technology (servers bandwith ect) is simply not there to keep up with the ridiculous demands. It isn’t called Floriduh for nothing
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As a 22 yr veteran of the Miami-Dade Co PS (MDCPS) I “laugh” every time a “tech glitch” happens, as if thinking “handwriting on the wall”. No, I don’t wish bad outcomes for my own district, but most of us saw this coming. I mourn that more and more class space in my school (Felix Varela HS) is being converted to testing rooms. We lost our engineering rooms and some science rooms (fewer electives) under the deceit, ruse, that the enrollment was dropping in these course; when, all the while, MDCPS knew it needed more testing stations to meet the “need” for more tests.
So, you kill academies, destroy curriculum, dishearten students and faculty, and convert classrooms into testing rooms, all under the name “reform”. Jeb Bush sent his kids to private schools (the hypocrite), so what does he know, or care, about public schools?
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None of the 1% care about public schools, or so it seems, by their willingness to sell it off to the highest bidder.
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How much is tech issues versus “tech issues” that conveniently allow districts to suspend the over-testing of their students? If you know what I mean…
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I heard on the news this morning that many people got up and left the room when Jeb Bush got up to speak at his latest event. What goes around always comes around.
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In my Florida district we have had these tech problems for years. The state’s online early reading diagnostic, formerly used in K – 2 with an upper grade reading assessment as well, had major glitches every time we gave it for 4 years.
Every time we attempt to enter grades district wide on Record Day our attendance/grade book software crashes the system.
District wide online assessments crash the system every time.
We knew.
The legislature knew and passed the Jeb Bush/ALEC laws anyway that require all state testing to be on a computer and starting this year all new textbooks must be books only. They appropriated exactly zero dollars for tech upgrades and equipment to go along with these asinine laws. It’s a feature — it makes public schools look bad and highly funded charters with tons of the latest tech gear become very appealing.
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E-books only, that is.
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The same used to happen in my District. It is impossible to enter grades on the final day before they are due
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Of course, it happened! My district has to lock out the students’ & the parents’ access to the online gradebook program at the ends of the semesters or the program crashes!
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FDOE is receiving an F for this testing brohuaha. This is like power failure on the Fukushima nuclear reactors.
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