In September of 2013, I wrote
an honest post lamenting my disillusion with the state of reading education in Florida. In 2014, I wrote a paper for one of my doctoral classes titled,
"Leaving FCAT Behind: A chance to end harmful impacts in
remedial reading classrooms" and it was my great hope as we transitioned to FSA from FCAT (Florida terms for standardized tests) that the politicians would be swayed to abandon the reading mandates in light of a new and untested assessment. In 2015, I was excited to see the mandate dissolve (at least while we awaited calibration of the new assessment)!
A full two years from my original heartfelt posting on being a reading specialist in the state of Florida, I have resigned my position as a reading specialist. My district and school's choosing to continue the segregationist marginalization of minority populations was too much for me to bear. Blaming the politicians in Tallahassee was one thing, being unable to affect change in my own realm of influence was another.
