Parents sue when third-grade honors students are not promoted to fourth grade

[rangerrebew]

Parents sue when third-grade honors students are not promoted to fourth grade
By Valerie Strauss August 13
 

This post has been updated.

This belongs in the you-can’t-make-up-this-stuff category:

In Florida (you knew it was Florida, didn’t you?), some third-graders — including honor students — are being forced to retake third grade because their parents decided to opt them out of the state’s mandated standardized reading test this past spring.

An undetermined number of third-graders who refused to take the Florida Standards Assessment in reading have been barred from moving to fourth grade in some counties. A lawsuit filed by parents against state education officials as well as school boards in seven Florida counties says counties are interpreting the state’s third-grade retention law so differently that the process has become unfair. Test participation, therefore, is more important than student class academic achievement.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/08/12/parents-sue-when-third-grade-honors-students-are-not-promoted-to-fourth-grade/

[geronl]

Abolish Public Schools

I can envision a time where the smartest kids are failed and the dumb ones are promoted.

[r9etb]

I can envision a time where the smartest kids are failed and the dumb ones are promoted.

You mean, as in Congress, or the presidential primaries....

[rangerrebew]

Abolish Public Schools

I can envision a time where the smartest kids are failed and the dumb ones are promoted.

It can be easily done, just give boring, mind numbing worksheets to the smart ones and they will either drop out, or become just as dumb as the others.

[jedidah]

We're living in such a wussy world.

What happens in the future when Mommy and Daddy's baby has to take certification tests or boards or even college entrance exams?  There will be standards to meet, no matter the chosen path.

Every day is a challenge, whether it's taking a test or just peacefully co-existing with an annoying teacher/neighbor/classmate/co-worker.  Deal with it.   Take the test, pass it, move on.

[Oceander]

Abolish Public Schools

I can envision a time where the smartest kids are failed and the dumb ones are promoted.

No, abolish teachers' unions.

[Chieftain]

Do they not elect local school boards in Florida any more??  Once again, this policy is being promoted by a duly elected school board, and the parents suing should have had a chance to vote these people in or out of the board. 

But as a parent, why would you not want your kid to be tested for reading??  Why not??  Someone please explain that one to me, I can't process that...

[GtHawk]

Do they not elect local school boards in Florida any more??  Once again, this policy is being promoted by a duly elected school board, and the parents suing should have had a chance to vote these people in or out of the board. 

But as a parent, why would you not want your kid to be tested for reading??  Why not??  Someone please explain that one to me, I can't process that...

Maybe the reading material was the koran? I too fail to see the harm presented to these children by being tested for reading ability, it would seem information is missing. I can only say how happy I am that my children are well out of public schools, and hope that my grandchildren are not to damaged by our current school system. Fortunately my daughter takes after me and won't take any crap from my grandsons teachers.

[geronl]

Do they not elect local school boards in Florida any more??  Once again, this policy is being promoted by a duly elected school board, and the parents suing should have had a chance to vote these people in or out of the board. 

education policy comes from DC these days

[Smokin Joe]

education policy comes from DC these days

Yep. Funding isn't free, and it all comes with strings. You want the money, you jump through the hoops. Kids eat the Michele Obama diet up here and go out to play for recess as long as the wind chill is above -30. How long do those calories last?