James Davis: “for the last several months, I have been getting an earful from parents, teachers and students who are concerned that…”

“for the last several months, I have been getting an earful from parents, teachers and students who are concerned that standardized educational testing in Florida has run amuck. Today, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Florida public school students subjected to these tests, I rise in support of the Hoekstra/Frank amendment. I am not opposed to testing our students every year, but I believe the principle purpose of testing should be diagnostic. Testing should determine where my child is at the beginning of the school year and what he needs to work on to get where he should be at the end of that school year. Testing should tell my child, his teacher, my wife and me what we need to know to help him improve as a student. I also support accountability. I want to know how my child's school is doing in comparison to other schools. In fact, while I served in the Florida House of Representatives, I chaired the Subcommittee that wrote Florida's Accountability law. Unfortunately, the Governor has turned that initial law on its head and is now using testing as a public relations tool rather than a true measure of students' academic abilities.”