COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Biden Administration has denied a request from the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) for an assessment waiver due to COVID-19 and instead granted flexibility in administering assessments (standardized tests) and waiving the federal accountability requirement.
What this means is that school districts throughout the state will begin a state assessment testing window on April 15 and must offer assessments within the last 30 days of the school year.
“Assessments play an important role in determining how students are faring and our proposal to use a series of interim tests that can be easily administered to all students -- both virtual and face to face -- would have provided educators and families with immediate, student centered results to drive instruction and deploy resources to support struggling learners," said SC Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. "Unfortunately, as so often happens, Washington D.C. thinks they know best and now educators and students will be forced to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing, administering, and taking tests whose results won't be known for months, when they should be focused closing academic gaps and addressing the social and emotional needs of our students who have had the most stressful academic year ever.”
Members of the Palmetto Teachers Association were also upset with the decision by the federal government, saying in a statement, "As COVID infection rates are in decline, we should be doing everything possible to increase instructional time and decrease student stress for the remainder of the school year. However, out schools will now have to do the exact opposite in order to administer these spring tests..."
Tests to be administered include:
- South Carolina College-and Career-Ready Assessments (SC READY) in English language arts and mathematics (grades 3-8)
- South Carolina Palmetto Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS) in science (grades 4 and 6)
- End-of-Course examinations in Biology, Algebra, U.S. History and the Constitution, and English -- offered to all students.
- English Language Proficiency and alternate assessments will also be administered to students who meet the requisite criteria.
Since the US Department of Education (USDE) did approve the waiver surrounding the 95% testing requirement and other accountability measures related to end-of-the-year testing, there will be no penalty at the student, teacher, school, district or state level for a student who does not complete the applicable assessment(s). The USDE has stated that they “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.” Thus, if a family believes it is unsafe for their child to attend school in person to take assessments, the SCDE and school districts will not require them to do so.
According to the SCDE, for any student who does not participate in testing, school districts will continue to use interim assessment data to inform instruction, intervention, summer learning, and learning loss/unfinished learning plans for 2021-22 and beyond.
“While we encourage all students to participate, we are relying on and empowering families to make the best decision for their child when it comes to end-of-the-year tests," Spearman said. "If a family determines that it is unsafe for a student to attend school for the sole purpose of taking a test, we will not penalize them, their teacher, or their school.”
The SCDE previously granted districts the authority to forego the twenty percent final grade requirement for End-of-Course exams. Non-federally required assessments related to college and career readiness have and will continue to be offered to students. These include Ready to Work, SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Cambridge.
The SCDE will report all available valid and reliable data, by subgroup, publicly on SCreportcards.com including those data specified in the USDE’s Feb. 22, 2021 notification.