Why High Stakes Testing Was Cancelled This Year (and Probably Will Be Next Year, Too)
There are at least two silver linings to the current Coronavirus catastrophe for education.
One – with nearly all public schools closed, March was the first month since 2002 without a school shooting.
Two – districts nationwide cancelled high stakes standardized tests in April and May.
Taken together, these are two victories that no one could have predicted before November.
Gun safety restrictions remain laughably lax in the US compared to the rest of the world. And our system’s reliance on high stakes testing to hold schools and teachers accountable for economic inequalities and racially biased standards has been thoroughly criticized for nearly a century.
In short, the virus succeeded where policy did not.
The pandemic’s other effects have been more damaging as students, parents and teachers have struggled to move education online at home.