Before heading across the ocean this weekend, Gov. Rick Scott said talks are under way with state and local education leaders about revamping the dreaded-by-some Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, better known as the FCAT.

Without offering specifics, Scott said students may face too much testing and the tests will change.

But opponents of the test shouldn’t expect the exams to go away.  

“In the end, I think it’s going to change a lot,” Scott told newspaper editors and publishers from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana on Friday at the opening of the Southeastern Press Convention at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin.

No timetable on making changes to the tests was mentioned. Scott also didn’t address the media after his appearance.

Scott said the state has received more complaints from parents this year about the testing, particularly the FCAT, than in prior years. And he’s already discussed the tests with state Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson, as well as county school board members, superintendents and teachers.

Still, Scott, who often employs rankings as a means to demonstrate usefulness or value, said tests are needed so parents and taxpayers can better appraise for themselves the work being done at area schools.

“In Florida we have a lot of measurement now, this year, probably more than any year; there have been complaints about how much testing there is in the schools, especially the FCAT,” Scott told those attending the convention.

"Parents and taxpayers expect measurement. We’ve got to measure; we’ve got to find out what the best schools are because you want your child to go to the best schools.  

“We have to have a good measurement system, but we have to make sure we don't have too much of it."



Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 215-9889.