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A Different Kind of COVID Test: Standardized Assessments During The Pandemic

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Kindergarten students sit in their classroom on the first day of in-person learning at Maurice Sendak Elementary School in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kindergarten students sit in their classroom on the first day of in-person learning at Maurice Sendak Elementary School in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The Biden administration says it won't allow states to cancel annual standardized testing. Some parents and educators are pushing back. We take a look at what statewide assessments measure during a pandemic.

Guests

Prudence Carter, dean and professor at the Graduate School of Education University of California, Berkeley. Author of "Keepin’ It Real: School Success beyond Black and White" and co-editor of "Closing the Opportunity Gap: What America Must Do to Give Every Child an Even Chance." (@prudencelcarter)

Luvelle Brown, superintendent of the Ithaca City School District in New York.  Moderator of Discovery Education’s Equity Talks, a weekly webinar with educational leaders. (@luvelleb)

Laura Jimenez, director of standards and accountability at the Center for American Progress.

Also Featured

Ceresta Smith, former educator and co-founder of United Opt Out National.

Stacey Travis, math teacher at Maryville High School, in Maryville, Tenn.

Reading List

Chalkbeat: "Some states were still hoping to cancel testing. The Biden administration just said no" — "'The realities of the pandemic mean that there’s going to have to be flexibility,' Ian Rosenblum, acting assistant education secretary, said in an interview Friday. 'At the same time, obtaining data on student learning includes high-quality statewide assessments, and that data is critically important from an educational equity perspective.'”

New York Times: "Does It Hurt Children to Measure Pandemic Learning Loss?"— "Over the past year, Deprece Bonilla, a mother of five in Oakland, Calif., has gotten creative about helping her children thrive in a world largely mediated by screens."

The Hechinger Report: To test or not to test? Educators weigh the value of standardized testing during a pandemic  "Opponents counter that testing during a pandemic will add to the stress students and teachers are under and cut into this year’s already constrained instructional time. They say schools already have plenty of evidence on which students have suffered the most under remote learning: low-income students and students of color."

This program aired on April 15, 2021.

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