TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (WSVN) - Florida officials have given the state’s students some encouraging news for the current school year.
The Florida Department of Education issued an emergency order on Friday stating that all school districts will have the option to waive state standardized testing requirements for graduation this year.
Officials hope their decision will help lift any heavy burden caused during the pandemic.
The emergency order states students can choose to skip state-mandated tests required to graduate or advance to the next grade. Instead, districts can make promotion, graduation and grade decisions based on classwork and local tests.
The order also allows districts to opt out of having their schools graded based on performance, and the Bright Futures Scholarship deadline has been extended from June 1 to Dec. 1st.
The Emergency Order (EO), issued one week into testing, addresses graduation for current seniors; promotion and retention decisions; Bright Future awards; school grades, school improvement ratings, and educator and administrator evaluations, and school readiness & VPK. pic.twitter.com/gsMNN5wRUy
— Alberto M. Carvalho (@LAUSDSup) April 9, 2021
The Miami-Dade and Broward school districts have not announced their plans yet, but Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho addressed the emergency order in a series of tweets posted Friday evening.
Breaking: @MiamiSup says every @MDCPS high school will have a physical, in-person graduation ceremony between June 1 – June 9. There will be three locations revolving around FIU and Miami-Dade County youth fair that provide for enough space. Details will be published this weekend pic.twitter.com/510SBtauzM
— Colleen Wright (@Colleen_Wright) April 9, 2021
The development comes after Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials confirmed all of their high schools are making graduation plans. The district will hold in-person ceremonies from June 1 through 9.
Broward County made a similar decision last week.
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