It is unusual for a video of a local school board meeting to receive 2.2 million views. Let’s see if this has ever happened before.

If you require evidence that standardized testing may be setting students up for failure, you might consider asking the students themselves. Sydney Smoot had an issue with the Hernando County School Board. What’s the issue? The Florida Standards Assessment Test (FSA). On March 17, 2015, Sydney boldly spoke out at her local school board meeting to express her feelings about the test and why she feels it is failing children and teachers.

“The testing treats me like a number. One exam, using a numerical rubric, determines whether I am a failure or a success. The instructor and I will not receive the grade for one test at the end of the year until the school year has concluded. I don’t believe that all of this FSA testing accurately reflects my level of achievement. It just takes into consideration a small portion of my knowledge and talents.” — Sydney Smoot

Can we award this young kid a medal? She was speaking directly to our souls with that speech!