News brief regarding the Commissioner of Educations Emergency Order issued

State waives some course requirements due to pandemic 

High school seniors in Florida will be able to graduate this year and 3rd graders can move on without passing the normally required state assessments, according to the Florida Department of Education Emergency Order 2021-EO-02 signed Friday by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. 

Corcoran signed the new emergency order Friday addressing a wide range of pandemic-related setbacks students have faced over the past school year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The order empowers local school districts to make exceptions when it comes to graduation and promotion issues.  It also allows schools themselves to maintain their pre-pandemic grades unless a district applies to the Department of Education to have one or more 2020-2021 school grades recorded. 

“We are pleased with the decision by the Commissioner to support students and families in this way,” stated Superintendent Theresa Axford.  “ The Executive Order clearly shows that he understands the issues which have arisen from providing instruction during the pandemic and sacrifices that families have made in regards to Covid-19 and their students schooling.”

Some of the key components include:
The district can waive the required state assessments for graduating seniors, if the district determines on a case-by-case basis that the student’s high school record establishes that all other graduation requirements have been met.

Third grade students may still be promoted to the fourth grade regardless of their score on the English Language Arts (ELA) assessment, provided that the student is performing at least at Level 2 through the good cause exemption process or other local assessments. Select students will be invited to participate in summer learning to further mitigate learning loss experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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