By Dale Chu With testing season about to begin (or in some cases, having already begun), states are wrestling with a host of tricky decisions regarding the administration of annual assessments. The hurdles are particularly daunting in states where schools have continued to remain shuttered (i.e.,...
By Dale Chu Despite last month’s letter from the U.S. Department of Education announcing that it won’t grant blanket testing waivers this year, a number of states plan on pursuing one nonetheless. To wit, Colorado—where this intrepid blogger is based—had been steeped in the buzz of...
By Dale Chu With more states signaling interest in skipping annual testing in 2021, the Biden administration announced yesterday evening that it would not be issuing blanket waivers on state assessments. In a letter sent to state education chiefs, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) correctly...
By Dale Chu With Miguel Cardona’s confirmation and installation as the nation’s next education secretary imminent, it’s worth reviewing the stakes attached to one of the most immediate and consequential decisions he will have to make: Whether to offer testing waivers to states for a second...
By Dale Chu Joe Biden wasted no time last week in signing a flurry of executive orders (EOs) in the first hours of his presidency. Two actions in particular are worth noting because of the language employed and its potential implications for state testing. Consider the title...
By Dale Chu As the second semester gets underway, the debate about whether or not the federal government should waive state testing will soon come to a head. Betsy DeVos is gone and, although she said she wouldn’t offer waivers again, decisions about what to do...
By Dale Chu Uncertainty about the status of spring testing notwithstanding, schools and systems across the country are steeling themselves for what could be a long road ahead. Even as the pandemic intensifies, public officials are recognizing the importance of annual assessments to support a post-Covid...
By Dale Chu In a breaking but not altogether surprising move, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) just announced their plan to delay the biennial NAEP assessment of reading and math. According to James Woodworth, NCES’s commissioner, there are not enough students physically attending school...
By Dale Chu California just shortened its annual test for next spring. New York has canceled its January round of Regents exams (standardized tests in core high school subjects). And with the virus resurging, the prospect of low student turnout is causing concern in states like...
By Dale Chu Laura Jimenez is the Director of Standards and Accountability at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy and research think tank. Last month, Laura authored a report titled Student Assessment During COVID-19, which discussed why schools should assess students next year using...