The Florida Department of Education announced Tuesday that an independent study has verified the validity of the Florida Standards Assessment tests.

The DOE also said the test will continued to be used.

Alpine Testing Solutions, the company contracted to conduct the validity study on the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA), confirmed the FSA is an accurate way to measure Florida’s students’ mastery of the standards.

The report goes on to say that the results can continued to be used, so the department is moving forward with using the tests for calculating school grades, calculating scores for inclusion in teacher evaluations and setting achievement level scores. 

"I want to thank Alpine Testing Solutions for their report," said Education Commissioner Pam Stewart. "We are committed to ensuring that all Florida students are prepared for college or career, and I am pleased that this third-party study confirmed our confidence in Florida’s statewide assessments."

During testing, some students who were taking computer-based tests experienced technical difficulties, primarily related to difficulty logging in. It was determined that the majority of the issues were the result of cyber attacks and glitches with system updates.

In response to the cyber attacks, Stewart requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to launch an investigation, which is ongoing.

Additionally, the department’s assessment team provided assistance to school districts.

According to the review:

  • During the spring administration of the FSA, 3.2 million tests were completed successfully. More computer-based statewide assessments were completed this year than last year – approximately 2.4 million computer-based tests were completed this year, an increase over the 1.7 million that were completed last year.

  • Safeguards were put in place to mitigate the impact of cyber-attack attempts made against American Institutes for Research (AIR), the company responsible for administering the FSA. The safeguards were effective, evidenced by the fact that students were not impacted by cyber-attack attempts that occurred after the first week.

  • No personally identifiable student information was accessed during the aforementioned cyber-attacks.

To read the executive summary, click here.

To read the full report, click here.

Seminole County wants change despite report

Seminole County is moving forward with its push to get changes made to the new Florida Standards Assessment system.

The school district is proposing the so-called "Seminole Solution," which would replace the FSA with other already known national assessments like the SAT.

The Seminole County superintendent issued this statement Tuesday:

"The Florida Department of Education released the FSA validity study this morning, and despite the findings, we remain concerned. Our students experienced frustration and a myriad of FSA testing issues that tainted many students' individual outcomes and as a result, aggregate school data. We are deeply troubled about the statewide economic impact that will result when schools are unfairly given a D or F grade.

"We want to reassure our community that we are continuing to work with our Legislature to implement laws which ensure Florida's accountability system increases the time teachers can teach and students can learn. Working with other Florida school districts on the Sunshine Solution will help to guarantee that assessment results are returned in a timely manner, are nationally normed and inform instruction."

State lawmakers are looking at ways to tweak the FSA, but not everyone is onboard with the county's plan.