Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson announced Tuesday night he will be leaving his job at the end of August. His stated reason was that he no longer wanted to live apart from his family members, who stayed in Virginia after he took the job last year.
His resignation comes after a months-long controversy over the state’s testing regimen and errors on school grades that forced the department to change the grades for dozens of schools.
Florida has been the leader in the school reform movement since the Jeb Bush era, and critics have blasted the state’s reliance on high-stakes testing like the FCAT for nearly as long. The recent problems with the exam are giving Democrats the impetus to call on Governor Rick Scott and legislative leaders to move in a direction that puts less emphasis on the FCAT, and Tampa area Congresswoman Kathy Castor is asking the federal Department of Education to intervene as well.
“We’ve know over time it’s been problematic, but the serious failures over the past few months have caused great concern among students, parents and educators,” Castor said on a conference call on Wednesday afternoon.
House Democratic Leader-designate Perry Thurston called on Scott, legislative leaders and the State Board of Education to end what he called the misuse of the exams. “The FCAT has failed students, teachers, and our state. A new state education commissioner can help Florida install a better and broader education accountability system for every school receiving taxpayer dollars that takes into account all the things students and teachers accomplish throughout the year.”
The group Fund Education Now!, no fans of Robinson, are calling on Floridians to contact Scott to choose a new commissioner who “reduces the emphasis on high-stakes testing.”
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2012.
