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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered a possible GOP candidate for president in 2024, scored some points with educators Tuesday when the end of the state鈥檚 testing program. But some experts wonder whether teachers and administrators will like what the state puts in its place.

A new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, which the state legislature still needs to approve, would involve three 鈥減rogress monitoring鈥� tests spread throughout the school year. DeSantis called the plan the 鈥渇inal step to eradicate Common Core from our assessments.鈥�

Last year, the state dropped Common Core standards, which many Republicans associate with the Obama administration, and is phasing in . To comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and receive federal funds, however, the state would still have to test all students in reading and math, produce end-of-year results and share the data with parents.

The 鈥渁nnouncement feels like somebody trying to make a point with teachers and parents, but the devil is in the details,鈥� said Paige Kowalski, executive vice president of the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit that focuses on making education data clear to parents.

The governor鈥檚 announcement comes amid growing anti-testing sentiment and complaints from educators that testing takes too long, often offering unhelpful results after students have moved on to the next gradel. With state tests cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic, teachers have also been relying more on programs such as NWEA鈥檚 MAP assessments to gauge how the pandemic has impacted students鈥� progress. Federal law doesn鈥檛 require states to test in the spring, and under an existing , some states, such as Georgia, are already trying interim tests throughout the year to minimize emphasis on end-of-year exams.

But experts say there are downsides.

鈥淚f they take the current test and cut it into three pieces, spreading it out over the year, it鈥檚 perhaps not that big a deal,鈥� said Dale Chu, a senior visiting fellow with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative education think tank. 鈥淏ut if schools didn鈥檛 like the 鈥榟igh-stakes鈥� nature of annual testing, they鈥檒l be in for a rude awakening when the pressure鈥檚 on three times a year.鈥�

Kowalski added that districts might not want to give up 鈥渂enchmark鈥� tests, such as MAP, Renaissance Learning鈥檚 Star or Curriculum Associates鈥檚 i-Ready, because teachers find them useful. If the new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking 鈥� or FAST tests 鈥� are layered on top of those, schools could find themselves giving more tests throughout the year instead of less.

Another possibility is that districts might stop paying for MAP or a similar test, leaving teachers with fewer data points to know if their 鈥渒ids are on track,鈥� Kowalski said.

Testing all students once a year in two core subjects sounds like a simple charge, she added.

鈥楤ut we haven鈥檛 been able to nail it,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow are we going to approach an innovative assessment system that you need a chart to explain?鈥�

Patricia Levesque, executive director of Foundation for Florida鈥檚 Future 鈥� part of the Foundation for Excellence in Education launched by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 鈥� raised about the plan. One is whether teachers would be required to teach on Tallahassee鈥檚 timetable in order to be prepared for the three statewide tests and another is whether the spring test would simply replace the end-of-year test, giving teachers 鈥渓ess time to cover the full year of content.鈥�

The testing program DeSantis is ending was a centerpiece of Bush鈥檚 two terms as governor.

DeSantis鈥檚 proposal applies to standardized tests for English language arts and math, but doesn鈥檛 eliminate high school end-of-course tests in algebra, U.S. history and biology.

Teachers unions , and Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho 鈥� even though he鈥檚 been at odds with DeSantis over his ban on universal masking in schools 鈥� the move.

Chu noted that even though the U.S. Department of Education required states to give tests this year, officials have allowed considerable flexibility with COVID-19 continuing to disrupt learning. Some states were allowed to delay spring assessments until this fall, the District of Columbia hasn鈥檛 conducted state tests for two years, and California allowed districts to choose which tests to administer.

鈥淚n today鈥檚 environment,鈥� he said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 hard to see the feds pushing back that hard.鈥�

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