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Bill Lackey/Staff
Dayton Daily News
Feds say K-12 school tests can be delayed, not canceled
By Jeremy P. Kelley
Feb 22, 2021
The U.S. Department of Education on Monday announced flexibility, but
not full cancellation, for this spring’s federally required K-12 tests,
as schools continue to adapt to COVID-19 impact.
The guidance says that tests will still be administered in some form,
but they could be shorter, or given online, or delayed until fall.
USDOE did say that states will be allowed to request a waiver of
federal accountability standards tied to test participation levels and
performance.
Spokeswoman Mandy Minick said Monday evening that the Ohio Department
of Education had just received the federal letter, so no formal
decisions on how to proceed had been made at the state level.
Ohio legislators and education officials have already had discussions
about waiving any potential consequences for students and schools tied
to test performance. There is likely strong support for that idea.
There has been more disagreement over whether to give the tests at all.
State Senate President Matt Huffman has argued that the tests
themselves should still take place to measure student progress during a
tumultuous year. Republicans in the House have introduced a bill in
favor of canceling the tests, saying schools need to concentrate on
teaching material rather than testing.
The USDOE guidance recognized that schools “may wish to prioritize
learning time during the scant in-person schooling time this year.”
Most of Ohio’s public school students take state reading and math tests
each spring from third to eighth grade, science tests in fifth and
eighth grade, and seven end-of-course exams at various times across
their high school years. Of those 21 tests, 17 are federally mandated.
State tests were canceled in spring 2020, as Gov. Mike DeWine shuttered
school buildings in mid-March and the federal government issued waivers
as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
In 2020-21, some students have been physically attending school five
days a week all year, while others have been learning from their homes
for 11 months straight, and a third group has been doing a “hybrid” mix
of in-person and online learning.
Preliminary results from two state tests that were administered in the
fall (kindergarten readiness and third-grade reading) showed that
overall scores were “notably lower than past years,” especially for
Black and low-income students, and for those students who had not yet
returned to in-person classes.
“The Department of Education is committed to supporting all
states in assessing student learning during the pandemic to help target
resources and support to the students with the greatest needs,” said
Ian Rosenblum, acting U.S. assistant secretary for elementary and
secondary education. “We also recognize that at a time when everything
in our education system is different, there needs to be (flexibility).”
USDOE said it recognizes individual states may have special
circumstances, so it is “prepared to work with states to address their
individual needs and conditions while ensuring the maximum available
statewide data to inform the targeting of resources and support.” The
federal announcement said state and local report card requirements will
remain in place, but without ratings normally tied to test results.
Some education groups have said state tests should be canceled, because
schools can use their regular diagnostic tests to more quickly and
efficiently learn where students stand and what help they need.
The federal testing news, announced just after 6 p.m. Monday, was a bit
of a surprise. State superintendent Paolo DeMaria, asked by the Dayton
Daily News about any testing developments just after 4 p.m., said there
was nothing new as of that moment and that Ohio was “captive to the
feds. We will wait to hear word from them.”
Read this and other stories at Dayton Daily News
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