The letter says in part:
“It does not take a standardized assessment to know that for millions of America’s children, the burden of learning remotely, either full- or part-time, expands academic learning gaps between haves and have nots. Whenever children are able to return fully to their classrooms, every instructional moment should be dedicated to teaching, not to teasing out test score gaps that we already know exist. If the tests are given this spring, the scores will not be released until the fall of 2021 when students have different teachers and may even be enrolled in a different school. Scores will have little to no diagnostic value when they finally arrive. Simply put, a test is a measure, not a remedy.”
The Biden administration told states earlier this week that it was extending the Feb. 1 first deadline for seeking a waiver. New York and Michigan let it be known this week that they would see waivers, and California is likely to do the same. EdSource reported that more than half of the members on the State Board of Education said they would support a waiver.
“It would be educational malpractice to require LEAs [local education agencies)] to provide results of assessments that really are seriously in jeopardy of being valid going forward,” State Board of Education member Sue Burr said at a public meeting this week.
Last year, then education secretary Betsy DeVos granted all states waiver from the testing after schools across the country closed when the covid-19 pandemic hit the United States. The logistics of giving the tests to students at home, along with concerns about the validity of the results, led to those waivers, and those pushing for new waivers say the conditions have not improved. CONTINUE READING: Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing - The Washington Post