As dozens of states across America have temporarily shuttered schools to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, Michigan education leaders are asking Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to waive state testing.
Tuesday, Michigan's State Board of Education Dr. Casandra Ulbrich and State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice wrote a letter to DeVos asking for federally mandated state testing to be waived.
"When we return to school, the focus should be on tending to children’s immediate needs: physical, socioemotional, and academic. In many cases, children will have experienced trauma. In other cases, they will simply need to be reacclimated into their schools. In all cases, students will have missed instruction, and this lost instruction will render any conclusions about test results dubious, especially any comparisons across school years and in light of the pending public health concerns of parents, students, and staff," the letter read.
All Michigan K-12 schools are closed until Monday, April 6. The state's annual M-STEP tests are scheduled to begin the week of April 13 and run through May 28.
The letter sent to DeVos says state leaders asked if they were able to waive state testing, but they said it would only be permitted if the closure overlapped with the testing period.
Rice and Ulbrich describe this as an "undesirable situation" since it will take schools awhile to reintegrate students back into the classroom.
“It’s time for Betsy DeVos to do the right thing on behalf of our students and waive statewide assessments,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “When our kids get back to school, our number one priority must be ensuring they have the resources they need to get back on track.”
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