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by Sandy Stenoff

You’ve kept your third grader at home all year long during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Now, you’ve received a stern “bully” letter telling you:

“There’s no opt out in Florida and the state requires you to send your child in to take the FSA.”

What CAN you do?

Parents, you are not powerless.
Now is NOT the time to send your child into a school, merely to take the FSA.

KEEP YOUR CHILD AT HOME.
Ask for a portfolio.

Superintendents understand that, no matter what “the state” says, some parents will simply not be sending their kids in to take the FSA. Increasingly, they are saying on the record at school board meetings, that they will not force families to send children in to test, and that they will work to achieve Good Cause Exemptions for promotion. 

Please consider replying with a letter sent in an email, like the one below and letting us know how your district responds so that we can continue to provide the most current information to other parents in Opt Out Florida Third Grade and in The Opt Out Florida Network.

In Florida, third grade is the only grade requiring EITHER a passing FSA score OR a Good Cause Exemption to be promoted to the next grade, including a portfolio.
Only one is required.

This sample letter presumes that you are seeking to have your child promoted based on the merits of their work throughout the year, not to substitute the FSA with another test. It also presumes the your child does not have a reading deficiency.

This is not legal advice.
__________

Dear Mrs. Principal,

Thank you for that information. 

This is to inform you that I will not be sending (Name) into school for FSA testing. 

Because of family who are at high medical risk for COVID, we have kept (Name) home since the beginning of the school year. Please understand that putting our family at risk over the FSA test is simply not something that is going to happen.

I am respectfully asking the district for guidance on how to ensure that (Name) will have a Good Cause Exemption to be promoted to the fourth grade. We have trust in her capable teacher, who has assessed her reading skills and ability throughout the year, all documented in her progress reports and report card on file.

Per FLDOE Promotion to 4th Grade Technical Assistance Paper (TAP)

Specifically:

H. REQUIRED PARENTAL NOTIFICATIONS
7. “…A parent of a student in grade 3 who is identified anytime during the year as being at risk of retention may request that the school immediately begin collecting evidence for a portfolio.”

As (Name) will not be entering the school to take the FSA, she will not have a test score and may be at risk of retention. I am therefore requesting that the school immediately begin collecting evidence for a portfolio.

C. STUDENT PORTFOLIOS FOR PROMOTION TO GRADE 4
To promote a student using a student portfolio as a good cause exemption, there must be evidence that demonstrates the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards in reading is equal to at least a Level 2 performance on the grade 3 statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. Such evidence shall be an organized collection of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards that are assessed by the grade 3 statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. The student portfolio must meet the following criteria:

1. Be selected by the student’s teacher,

2. Be an accurate picture of the student’s ability and only include student work that has been independently produced in the classroom,

3. Include evidence that the standards assessed by the grade 3 statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment have been met. Evidence is to include multiple choice items and passages that are approximately sixty (60) percent literary text and forty (40) percent information text, and that are between 100-700 words with an average of 500 words. Such evidence could include chapter or unit tests from the district’s/school’s adopted core reading curriculum that are aligned with the Language Arts Florida Standards or teacher-prepared assessments.

4. Be an organized collection of evidence of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards that are assessed by the grade 3 statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. For each standard, there must be at least three (3) examples of mastery as demonstrated by a grade of seventy (70) percent or above on each example, and,

5. Be signed by the teacher and the principal as an accurate assessment of the required reading skills.

The school principal shall review and discuss such recommendation with the teacher and make the determination as to whether the student should be promoted or retained. If the school principal determines that the student should be promoted, the school principal shall make such recommendation in writing to the district school superintendent. The district school superintendent shall accept or reject the school principal’s recommendation in writing.
(Rule 6A-1.094221, F.A.C., and Section 1008.25(6)(c)2, F.S.)

I am happy to meet virtually with her teacher to work out any details. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your prompt attention to this important request.

Sincerely…

__________

Once you send your letter, if you still get push back, send it to your superintendent and district Director of Assessment/Accountability as well.

PLEASE NOTE:
You are not requesting an alternative test, at least not here. This post is limited to REQUESTING A THIRD GRADE PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT for a Good Cause Exemption and does not include any discussion of the eight state-approved alternative assessments listed in the FLDOE Promotion to 4th Grade Technical Assistance Paper (TAP).

When you request a portfolio, your district’s version of a “portfolio” may be a collection of mini-FSA tests from the state’s test bank. To begin that “test portfolio” now would mean MORE testing for your child. It may contain up to 42 separate assessments, kept secret from teachers, and covers material that may not yet have been taught. That is not the same as the portfolio of schoolwork supported here. Your child has likely already completed a great deal of progress monitoring testing, unit tests, chapter tests, etc., that could be used for their portfolio, and which may already satisfy most of the required standards – because the teachers have been teaching them.

Read about just how much progress monitoring is done here.

If there is insufficient progress monitoring data for a portfolio, you may wish to consider requesting an approved alternative assessment to satisfy the Good Cause Exemption (that post is coming soon!) 

Clarification:

  • You are not asking anyone to do anything for your child, to which she is not entitled.
  • You are not asking the school to take any action that is prohibited.
  • You are not asking for special treatment.
  • You ARE asking the school district, in this unusual and unprecedented time, to be reasonable and to do what is reasonable, within the framework of what is allowed under Florida education statutes to support your child’s education.
  • The Florida Statute provides alternatives for a Good Cause Exemption when there is no passing FSA score.

From FLDOE Read To Learn:

Therefore, if your child does not have a substantial reading deficiency, she/he should not be retained.

Parents must be strong advocates for their child. The FLDOE documents made available here are public documents. There is no secret. Use them to protect your children.


Most important links to support authentic portfolio assessment *

More resources in the Third Grade Opt Out Toolbox. Dig in!

Our Support Network
Opt Out Florida Third Grade
The Opt Out Florida Network