“As the educators in the classroom, we have always known that standardized tests are not the best way to measure a child’s development, nor do they particularly help kids or inform best practices for teaching and learning. That is especially true in these unprecedented times, when students and teachers alike are remaking the school experience in the most unlikely of circumstances,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Although Weingarten praised the U.S. Department of Education for trying to deal with the chaos caused by the pandemic, she said, “While its plan does offer the option for testing modifications and waivers for accountability requirements, which is a start, it misses a huge opportunity to really help our students by allowing the waiver of assessments and the substitution, instead, of locally developed, authentic assessments that could be used by educators and parents as a baseline for work this summer and next year.”
Two parts of the ED announcement that Weingarten called helpful: The announcement students should not be brought back in person just to take a test, and that states requiring additional flexibility in administering such tests will get a fair hearing from the Education Department.
Maintaining that standardized tests have never been valid or reliable measures of what students know and are especially unreliable now, Becky Pringle, the president of the National Education Association, said, “High stakes standardized tests administered during the global health crisis should not determine a student’s future, evaluate educators, or punish schools; nor should they come at the expense of precious learning time that students could be spending with their educators. States should use this guidance to work with the educators and the Department of Education to tailor assessments that can actually determine where students are and help design an educational experience that fully supports their academic, social and emotional needs.”
The Council of Chief State School Officers Chief Executive Officer Carissa Moffat Miller issued a statement in response to ED’s announcement: “The COVID-19 pandemic and associated school building closures have presented logistical challenges to giving assessments, and how states collect student learning data may look different this year. We appreciate that the Department will provide flexibility on how to administer statewide assessments and modify accountability systems as state leaders manage the continuing effects of the global pandemic. In addition, we are pleased that the Department has committed to working with states that may need additional flexibilities.”
Here is the letter that Ian Rosenblum, acting assistant secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, sent today to the Chief State School Officers:
In these challenging times, we at the U.S. Department of Education stand with you and are committed to doing everything in our power to support the students, educators, and schools in your state. Please know that we are grateful for your leadership and for the extraordinary work of educators across the Nation.
I am writing to provide an update on assessment, accountability, and reporting requirements for the 2020-2021 school year. President Biden’s first priority is to safely re-open schools and get students back in classrooms, learning face-to-face from teachers with their fellow students. To be successful once schools have re-opened, we need to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on learning and identify what resources and supports students need.
We must also specifically be prepared to address the educational inequities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, including by using student learning data to enable states, school districts, and schools to target resources and supports to the students with the greatest needs. In addition, parents need information on how their children are doing.
State assessment and accountability systems play…