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PHOTO COURTESY OF OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
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The State Board of Education in California voted unanimously to prepare to apply for more flexible standardized testing options this year as nearly 80% of students across the state continue with distance learning. States are required to conduct standardized tests every year in math, English language arts and science, according to both state laws and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
When schools shut their buildings in March last year due to the pandemic, however, state officials said districts did not have to administer the tests, pending getting a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education under then-Secretary Betsy DeVos. The department quickly granted waivers to all states relieving them of their testing obligations.
On Monday, the Biden administration said that states must resume testing this year. But it also invited states to apply for waivers from some testing requirements and to allow them to implement more flexible testing options, such as extending the time allowed to administer the tests into summer or even fall, shortening the exams and administering them remotely. In November, the State Board of Education voted to create shortened versions of the states’ standardized tests in math and English arts that could cut down the […]
