The Broward County School Board removed district testing for kindergarten and first graders, and significantly reduced it for second through fifth graders, after receiving community concern that elementary students spend too much time on screen completing assessments.
With a mix of state-, district-, and teacher-given exams, students and educators have experienced an increase in testing fatigue.
At Tuesday’s workshop, Broward school board members were eager to reduce the time dedicated to testing on screens so teachers can gain back lesson time.
The School Board does not have the power to reduce the amount of state-given assessments, and teachers retain autonomy in deciding how to track the retention of instruction in their classrooms.
“ The district is not eliminating all assessments. We are making assessments more purposeful,” said Guy Barmoha, director of secondary learning.
The move comes at a time when classrooms in South Florida and nationwide have become saturated with screens, and a growing number of parents, teachers and school districts are saying it is time to scale back.
READ MORE: How much time do Miami-Dade County students spend on screens in the classroom?
“ The message is not that students will never see technology,” said Richard Baum, director of Educational Assessment, Analysis and Research. “The message is that routine one-to-one device use is being reduced, especially where it replaces teacher-led instruction, hands-on learning, oral language, writing, manipulatives, and developmentally appropriate learning.”
Some of the testing overlapped, so part of the goal was to eliminate duplication of district tests assessing skills that the state is already testing. For example, Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, tracks progress monitoring three times in the school year, so the district eliminated its own administering of i-Ready Growth.
“ Some may worry that removing i-Ready in the district is removing intervention, and that is not the case,” said Melissa Holtz, director of elementary learning. A tiered system with teacher-led support will be implemented for students’ differing intervention needs.
i-Ready is fully eliminated for first graders needing extra help, while it’ll still be used “strategically” for intervention or acceleration in second through fifth grades at some of the higher tiers.
In the 2025-26, students in grades 2, 3 and 4 were spending 6 and a half hours on screens performing district tests. That time was cut down to 3 hours for the new school year.
Fifth graders in 2025-26 were dedicating more than 7 hours on district-issued testing. Going into the new year, that’s reduced to just less than 5 hours.
“I don’t know if this is perfect,” said board member Debbie Hixon, "but it’s definitely a good start.”
