USED Announces Waivers for Accountability and Flexibilities for Assessments for the 2020-2021 School Year

The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has sent out a letter to Chief State School Officers (state education leaders) with information related to the 2020-2021 school year concerning the following issues:

• Waivers for accountability for identifying schools for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI), targeted support and improvement (TSI), and additional targeted support and improvement (ATSI) based on data from the 2020-2021 school year;
• Reporting requirements for State and Local Report Cards; and
• Details regarding assessment flexibilities and the lack of waivers for the administration of annual assessments.

This letter includes the caveat of only testing in person where it is safe to do so.

"Certainly, we do not believe that if there are places where students are unable to attend school safely in person because of the pandemic that they should be brought into school buildings for the sole purpose of taking a test."

The letter describes the intent of providing the waivers and flexibilities "is to focus on assessments to provide information to parents, educators, and the public about student performance and to help target resources and supports."