The Florida Senate
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.)
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Appropriations
BILL: CS/SB 1048
INTRODUCER: Appropriations Committee; and Senators Diaz and Rodrigues
SUBJECT: Student Assessments
DATE: February 8, 2022 REVISED:
ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR REFERENCE ACTION
1. Palazesi Bouck ED Favorable
2. Grace Elwell AED Recommend: Favorable
3. Grace Sadberry AP Fav/CS
Please see Section IX. for Additional Information:
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE - Substantial Changes
I. Summary:
CS/SB 1048 substantially modifies Florida’s statewide standardized assessment program to
include a computer-based coordinated screening and progress monitoring tool in English
Language Arts and mathematics. The bill specifies that progress monitoring results must provide
teachers and parents with actionable feedback to tailor instruction and develop programs and
supports, and the end-of-year assessment must be used for all existing accountability purposes
specified in law. The bill provides for a one-year transition period to the new statewide
standardized assessments, which will hold students and schools harmless during the transition.
The bill also requires the Commissioner of Education to provide recommendations on additional
ways to streamline testing.
The bill enumerates a list of rights that a parent possesses in order to be notified of his or her
student’s educational progress. The bill further specifies the requirements of school districts in
notifying parents of their student’s academic progress.
The bill has an indeterminate fiscal impact. See Section V. Fiscal Impact Statement.
The bill takes effect July 1, 2022.
BILL: CS/SB 1048 Page 2
II. Present Situation:
Voluntary Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Progress Monitoring Tool
Children who enrolled in a private or public Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (VPK), for the
2021-2022 school year and prior school years, are assessed with the Florida VPK Assessment.1
The Florida VPK Assessment is a progress monitoring tool that measures a child abilities in print
knowledge, phonological awareness, mathematics, and oral language/vocabulary area that are
aligned with the Early Learning and Developmental standards: 4 Years old to Kindergarten
(2017).2 The Florida VPK assessment consists of a pre- and post-assessment:
The Pre-assessment or Assessment Period 1 is administered within the first thirty calendar
days of the VPK class schedule.
The Post-assessment or Assessment Period 3 is administered within the last thirty calendar
days of the VPK class schedule.3
Students who enrolled in kindergarten in a public school for the 2021-2022 school year and prior
school years, were assessed with the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener within the first 30
school days of the 2021-2022 school year.4 The Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener is a
computer adaptive assessment, which is completed by students in less than 20 minutes and
measures student proficiency in three broad domains:
Word knowledge and skills;
Comprehension strategies and constructing meaning; and
Numbers and operations. 5
There is not a federal requirement for states to administer a Kindergarten through grade 2
assessment system. As of 2019, Florida was one of 12 states that didn’t offer a statewide
Kindergarten through grade 2 assessment system or a list of approved Kindergarten through
grade 2 assessment systems for school districts.6 In 2021, the legislature created a new statewide
VPK through grade 8 coordinated screening and progress monitoring program that includes
grades Kindergarten through grade 2.7
Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, private and public VPK providers and public schools
in Florida will be required to participate in a coordinated screening and progress monitoring
system (CSPM) for students in VPK through grade 8. The CSPM tool must be administered
three times a year and is required to:
1
Rule 6A-1.09433, F.A.C.
2
Office of Early Learning, About Assessments in VPK and Kindergarten Screening,
http://www.floridaearlylearning.com/vpk/vpk-providers/assessments-flkrs, (last visited 11/16/2021).
3
Rule 6M-8.620, F.A.C
4
Section 1002.68(3)(a), F.S.
5
Florida Department of Education, Assessment for reading, language and vocabulary, and numeracy,
https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/18494/urlt/StarEarlyLiteracy.pdf (last visited 11/16/2021).
6
Council of Chief State School Officers, K-2 Assessments: An Update on State Adoption and Implementation, at 6 (2019),
available at https://ccsso.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/K-2%20Assessments%20Paper%20FINAL.pdf. An analysis of the
2021-22 district assessment calendars that were submitted to the Department of Education showed that 61 school districts
intended to use a progress monitoring tool that included grades K-2 for the 2021-22 school year.
7
Section 15, ch. 2021-9, L.O.F.
BILL: CS/SB 1048 Page 3
Measure student progress in VPK-grade 8 in meeting the appropriate expectations in early
literacy and mathematic skills and in English Language Arts and mathematic standards.
Measure student performance in oral language development, phonological and phonemic
awareness, knowledge of print and letters, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension, as applicable by grade level.
Be valid, reliable, and developmentally appropriate computer-adaptive that identifies
students who have a substantial deficiency in reading, including identifying students with
characteristics of dyslexia.
Provide data that can be used for VPK Program accountability requirements.
Provide VPK program providers, school districts, schools and teacher with data and
resources that enhance instruction and parental communication.
Provide information to the department to aid in the development of educational programs,
policies and supports for VPK providers and school districts. 8
Beginning with the 2022-2023 program year, each private prekindergarten provider and public
school in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program must participate in a program
assessment of each voluntary prekindergarten education classroom. The Florida Department of
Education (FDOE) must adopt a methodology for calculating each private prekindergarten
provider’s and public school provider’s performance metric, which includes program assessment
scores and the initial and final CSPM results.9
The Council for Early Grades Success
In 2021, the legislature created the Council for Early Grades Success within the FDOE. The
council is responsible for reviewing the implementation of, training for, and outcomes from the
coordinated screening and progress monitoring (CSPM) program to provide recommendations to
the FDOE that support grade 3 students reading at or above grade level. 10
Florida’s Statewide Student Assessment Program
Federal Requirements
The Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) was signed into law in 196511 and was reauthorized
by the No Child Left behind (NCLB) act in 2002 and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in
2015.12
The Every Student Succeeds Act provides flexibility for state accountability systems but keeps
the assessment requirements of NCLB. Under ESSA, states receiving Title I funding are still
required to administer the math and reading or language arts assessments annually to students in
grades 3-8 and once in high school. In addition, states are required to measure student
proficiency in science at least once in grades 3 through 5; grades 6 through 9; and grades 10
8
Section 1008.25, F.S.
9
Section 1002.68, F.S.
10
Section 65, ch. 2021-10, L.O.F.
11
Pub. L 89-10 (April 11, 1965).
12
U.S. Department of Education, Every Student Succeeds Act (https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn) (last visited Nov. 12, 2021).
BILL: CS/SB 1048 Page 4
through 12.13 However, ESSA amended NCLB to allow for a state or a consortia of states to use
multiple statewide interim assessments that results in a single summative score, or a state can use
a single summative assessment. In addition, ESSA amended NCLB to allow states to administer
a computer adaptive assessments for the purposes of meeting federal requirements.14
Florida Standards Assessments and Next Generation Sunshine State Standards Assessments
The primary purpose of the student assessment program is to provide student academic
achievement and learning gains data to students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and
school district staff.15 The Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) and Next Generation Sunshine
State Standards (NGSSS) assessments measure student achievement of the standards contained
in the Florida Standards and the NGSSS, respectively. Florida’s educational standards were
developed with the goal of providing all students with an education based on high expectations.
The statewide assessments program also provides feedback and accountability indicators to
Florida educators, policy makers, students, and other citizens.16
The Commissioner of Education (commissioner) is required to design and implement a statewide
standardized assessment program aligned to the core curricular content established in the
NGSSS. The statewide standardized assessment program for students in grades 3 through 10 is
as follows:
Florida Standards Assessments:
o English Language Arts (ELA): grades 3-10.
o Mathematics: grades 3–8.
o End-of-Course (EOC) assessments for students who are enrolled in the corresponding
course:
Algebra 1.
Geometry.
NGSSS Assessments:
o Grade 5 and grade 8 science.
o EOC assessments for students who are enrolled in the corresponding course:
Biology I.
United States History.
Civics.
Florida Standards Assessment and End-of-Course Assessments: Test Administration and Test
Schedule
The FSA in ELA and Mathematics for grades 3 through 6 are currently administered in a paper-
based format. Statewide EOC assessments,17 the grade 7 and 8 FSA Mathematics, and grades 7
through 10 FSA ELA assessments are administered in a computer-based format.18
13
34 C.F.R. s. 200.5.
14
34 C.F.R. s. 200.2.
15
Section 1008.22(1), F.S.
16
Florida Department of Education, Florida Statewide Assessments: Statewide Assessments Guide 2020-2021, at 1, (2021),
available at https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5663/urlt/swapig.pdf.
17
Section 1008.22, F.S.
18
Florida Department of Education, Florida Statewide Assessments: Statewide Assessments Guide 2020-2021, at 35, (2021),
available at https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5663/urlt/swapig.pdf.
BILL: CS/SB 1048 Page 5
The grade 3 ELA assessment and the writing portion of the statewide standardized ELA
assessment must be administered no earlier than April 1 each year. The spring administration of
the FSA ELA in grades 4 through 10, FSA Mathematics grades 3 through 8, and EOC
assessments must be administered no earlier than May 1 of each year. The commissioner is
required to establish schedules for the administration of statewide, standardized assessments and
the reporting of student assessment results.19 For school year 2021-2022, the FSA and EOC
administration schedule is below.20
The commissioner must also publish on the department’s website a uniform testing calendar that
is provided to school districts, so that school districts can populate the calendar with the state-
and district-required assessments. School districts are required to publish the uniform testing
calendar on their website each school year.
Florida Standards Assessment and End-of-Course Assessments: Reporting of Results and
Achievement Levels
Results for the FSA and EOC assessments must be made available no later than June 30, except
for the results for the grade 3 statewide standardized ELA assessment which must be available
no later than May 31. The results for the FSA and EOC assessments, must be reported in an
easy-to-read and understandable format and delivered in time to provide useful, actionable
information to students, parents, and each student’s current teacher of record and teacher of
record for the subsequent school year. The school district must provide the assessment results
within 1 week after receiving the results from the FDOE.
19
Section 1008.22, F.S.
20
Florida Department of Education, Florida Statewide Assessment Program 2021-22 Schedule,
https://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-8789/dps-2019-197a.pdf, (last visited Dec. 14, 2021).
BILL: CS/SB 1048 Page 6
All statewide, standardized EOC assessments and ELA, Mathematics, and Science assessments
must use scaled scores and achievement levels. Achievement levels range from 1 through 5, with
level 1 being the lowest achievement level, level 5 being the highest achievement level, and level
3 indicating satisfactory performance on an assessment. Passing scores for each statewide,
standardized assessment are designated by the State Board of Education (SBE) in rule. If the
commissioner seeks to modify performance level scores on a statewide, standardized assessment,
the commissioner must provide a copy of the proposed scores and implementation plan to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate at least 90 days before
submission to the SBE for review.21
Optional Progress Monitoring Tool
Progress monitoring (PM) tools are a type of formative assessments that allow teachers to
continuously evaluate student learning and monitor the effectiveness of their instruction.22
The FDOE allocated $20 million from the CARES Act funds for PM and data informed
supports.23 From October 1, 2020, through February 19, 2021, the FDOE made available to all
public schools on a voluntary basis a new progress monitoring tool developed by Cambium
Assessment, Inc., to serve as a connective support between the foundational skills that students
seek to acquire and their progress through early education years and drive informed teaching
practices and curriculum decisions. The progress monitoring tool was computer adaptive, made
available for multiple administrations and was aligned to the state standards for grades 3 through
10 Reading and grades 3 through 8 Mathematics. 24 Public schools participating in the optional
progress monitoring tool were recommended to provide students between 45 and 60 minutes to
complete each assessment.25
In school year 2020-21, 59 school districts administered the progress monitoring tool. The 59
school districts that used the progress monitoring tool administered 322,030 Reading
assessments and 226,122 Mathematics assessments. In school year 2021-22, as of Dec. 13, 2021,
54 school districts have accessed the progress monitoring tool and administered 110,787 Reading
assessments and 56,237 Mathematics assessments. 26
21
Section 1008.22, F.S.
22
The Iris Center, Peabody College Vanderbilt University, How can teachers systematically identify when to adjust
instruction for struggling students?, https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/pmr/cresource/q1/p02/ (last visited Dec. 20,
2021).
23
Florida Department of Education, Reopening Florida’s Schools and the CARES Act, available at
http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/FLDOEReopeningCARESAct.pdf, at 102, (last visited Dec. 20, 2021).
24
Florida Department of Education, Free Optional Progress Monitoring Tool Available to Public Schools (Dec. 28, 2021),
available at http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/19861/urlt/CambiumProgressMonitoring2020-21.pdf.
25
Florida Department of Education, Adaptive Progress Monitoring (APM) Administration Manual, 2021-22, at 3 (2021),
available at https://fsassessments.org/-/media/project/client-portals/florida/pdf/apm/apm-administration-manual-081921-
final.pdf.
26
Email, Jessica Fowler, Deputy Legislative Affairs Director, Florida Department of Educat