Credit for FACT exams is accepted at Florida schools and universities.
Bryan Pollard/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus
Florida’s Legislature handed a invoice final week to additional plans to develop college-readiness programs to compete with Advanced Placement, referred to as Florida Advanced Courses and Test, or FACT, Politico reported. The laws will permit faculty districts and academics to earn bonuses for providing FACT programs, providing academics a $50 bonus for every of their college students who achieves a sure grade on a FACT examination. Such bonuses are on par with these supplied for AP and International Baccalaureate programs.
FACT originated in 2023 amid disagreements between the state authorities and the College Board over AP African American research programs. This previous fall, the state launched FACT’s first pilot programs in algebra at some excessive colleges. Public Florida schools and universities will settle for FACT credit, however establishments in different states don’t.
Some Democratic lawmakers have raised considerations about whether or not FACT lessons are as rigorous as APs and IBs. They additionally expressed fear that folks may erroneously consider FACT scores may give them a leg up in faculty admissions exterior of Florida.
“Who is making up these advanced courses, and are they truly equivalent, or are we just giving them an equivalent weight?” mentioned Democratic state consultant Felicia Simone Robinson. “Because if we are, and this is a course that we’re just making up for Florida and it’s not necessarily equivalent to the AP and IB courses, then we’re putting our students at a disadvantage when they’re trying to compete against other students in the United States.”
Florida’s Department of Education has defended the programs as “rigorous, high-quality academic options aligned to the state’s education priorities.”
