Tag Archives: material

Florida Standards Assessments’ replacement increases testing time

Alachua County Public Schools began taking standardized tests with the new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking less than a month into the school year. Students in voluntary prekindergarten through 10th grade will participate in this assessment three times a year. Florida Assessment of Student Thinking replaces the end-of-the-year Florida Standards Assessments and monitors student progress in the fall, winter and spring. Each cycle tests students’ knowledge of the entire year’s material in English Language Arts and mathematics, according to the Florida Department of Education. But critics of the new assessment say more time spent testing means less instructional time.

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How to help Florida disaster victims

Hurricane Ian has left thousands of Florida residents struggling with basic needs, and many organizations are making donation and volunteer opportunities available to the public. Gov. Ron DeSantis encourages the public to make monetary donations to enable relief organizations to do their work. Within the last 24 hours, people have donated more than $2 million to Florida hurricane relief efforts. The Category 4 hurricane shifted its course to the east before making landfall just after 3 p.m. Wednesday, catching residents off guard. Many people who could not evacuate are experiencing flooding and infrastructure failure.

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