Biden administration urged to allow states to cancel spring standardized testing

“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 this week that it was extending the Feb. 1 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, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos granted all states waivers from the testing after schools across the country closed when the coronavirus 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.

The decision on whether to grant waivers to states will be an early test for Cardona, the Connecticut superintendent of schools. He said before Biden tapped him in December that he would like schools to give the tests this spring even while not using the results in the same way they usually are: to evaluate specific teachers and students.

Biden himself expressed skepticism about standardized testing while he was running for president. At a December 2019 public education forum in Pittsburgh, he was asked whether he would commit to ending standardized testing in public schools. He responded: “Yes. You are preaching to the choir.”

He also said: “Teaching to a test underestimates and discounts the things that are most important for students to know.” He added that evaluating teachers by student test scores was a “big mistake.”

Supporters of accountability testing say that the exams are important to determine whether students are making progress and that two straight years of having no data from these tests would leave teachers and schools without critical information on how well their students are doing.

Those opposed to the testing say the results don’t actually help teachers with individual students — and there are concerns about the validity and reliability of the scores.

Here’s the letter signed by 74 local, state and national organizations and more than 10,000 individuals:

To: Secretary of Education Nominee, Miguel Cardona

On December 14, 2019, President Joe Biden participated in the 2020 Public Education Forum held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Early childhood expert, Dr. Denisha Jones, explained the damage done by standardized testing and then asked, “If you are elected President, will you commit to the ending of standardized testing in public schools?”

Joe Biden’s response was immediate, direct, and clear. “Yes.” He continued, passionately declaring that “teaching to a test underestimates and discounts the things that are most important for students to know.” As you listen to his full remarks regarding why he is opposed to standardized testing, you will hear the authentic response of someone who is not only married to a teacher but who, growing up with a disability, may have felt the brunt of standardized testing himself.

We, the undersigned understand that the pandemic has inflicted enormous social, emotional, physical, and academic harm on America’s children. We also know that the consequences of the pandemic have not fallen equally on some children’s shoulders. Those who were disadvantaged prior to Covid-19 are bearing a disproportionate weight from experiencing more loss, more hunger, and more stress than their more affluent peers.

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.

To believe that it is impossible for teachers to identify and address learning gaps without a standardized test is to have a breathtaking lack of faith in our nation’s teachers. The President made it clear in his remarks that he believes in the ability of teachers to identify what students do and do not know; we hope that you do, too.

Like the President, some of us who sign this letter reject the need for the standardized testing regimes that exploded over the past quarter-century. Others conclude that such testing has a limited role. However, we all maintain that at this moment in time, it is in the best interest of children that the U.S. Department of Education lift the mandate for annual testing this spring.

We hope that you agree with the sentiments of President Biden and with us, and upon your confirmation immediately cancel the 2021 testing mandate.

Respectfully submitted by the 74 national, state and local organizations who signed below and the 10,732 Americans who, to date have signed as well. You can find their names here.

The Network for Public Education

The Schott Foundation for Public Education

National Center for Fair & Open Testing, Inc. (FairTest)

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS)

Journey for Justice Alliance

The National Superintendents Roundtable

Defending the Early Years

Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools

BASD (Bethlehem Area School District) joe biden.

Badass Teachers Association (BATs)

Bay Area Collective Keeping Privatizers Away from Community Schools BACKPACS

California Educators United

Children Are More Than Test Scores

Citizens for Public Schools, Boston, Massachusetts

Connecticut Public School Advocates

Educators for Democratic Schools

Florida Council of Churches

Fund Education NOW Florida

Illinois Families for Public Schools

Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Indiana Coalition for Public Education — Monroe County

Iowans for Public Education

It Takes a Village to Tackle HB70

MI CORE (Michigan Caucus of Rank and File Educators)

Miami-Dade County Public School Parents (MDCPS Parents)

Michigan Collective for Equity in Education

National Educators United

New Rochelle FUSE (Federation United School Employees)

New York State Allies for Public Education

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education

Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Parents for Public Schools — National

Parents for Public Schools Greenwood and LeFlore County (Mississippi)

Pastors for Florida Children

Pastors for North Carolina Children

Pastors for Oklahoma Children

Pastors for Tennessee Children

Pastors for Texas Children

Public Education Matters Georgia

Public Education Partners (Ohio)

Rochester Coalition for Public Education

Save Michigan’s Public Schools

Save our Schools New Jersey

Save our Schools North Carolina

School and Communities United Milwaukee

Support Our Students Alabama

The New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools

​The Public Science Project at the CUNY Graduate Center

United for Florida Children

Washington Township Parent Council Network of Indianapolis

Wellstone Democratic Club

When Public Schools Reopen