Anger continues to mount over the release this week of preliminary data from the Florida Standards Assessment test students took for the first time last spring.
The Florida Parent Teacher Organization and the Florida School Boards Association have joined with the state's school superintendents to express their lack of trust in the state's school accountability system.
The groups are asking the state school board to wait a year before using the results of the new test to assign teacher and school grades. But if they are unable to persuade the state school board, Duval School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says that may be the time to act.
Vitti said, "I'm not ruling out that opting out wouldn't be a possible option if we continue to see absolute stubbornness, arrogance, on the part of the department and many state officials right now in Tallahassee regarding the direction of accountability in the state of Florida."
Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart has yet to issue cut, or passing, scores for the test.
When that happens, Vitti says, we will likely see the number of D and F schools skyrocket here and around the state.
