Polk County Public Schools
The Florida Department of Education web site explains that "the State of Florida has, for some years, been committed to perfecting a workable system of accountability for the public schools. The Florida Statewide Assessment Program, begun in 1971, has been an important element in this accountability effort. The program was designed to assess students' academic strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the basic skills." The following tests are a part of the Florida Statewide Assessment Program.
As taken from the FLDOE web site, "The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is a component of Florida's effort to improve the teaching and learning of higher educational standards. The primary purpose of the FCAT is to assess student achievement of the high-order thinking skills represented in the Sunshine State Standards (SSS) for Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science. The SSS portion of the FCAT is a criterion-referenced test. "
According to the International Baccalaureate web site, "The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities."