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South Carolina's request for student test waivers denied

School districts must administer end-of-year exams this spring, but student participation is not required.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Education has announced end-of-year assessments will still be given to students this year. Superintendent Molly Spearman asked for the federal testing requirement waived, but her request was denied.

"I was very disappointed in that because I felt strongly that, yes, we had to have assessments, but we in South Carolina had done the assessments and had the data we needed," said Spearman in a media briefing Monday.

Testing data helps schools see where students are academically and where they need help. Spearman said they already have data from interim assessments.

"Students, particularly in math, particularly in 4th and 5th grade, have not done as well as they normally would pre-covid," she gave as an example of the data. "We have shown growth from August to December in almost all grades but there are some areas that still need growth."

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Richland Two high school teacher Patrick Kelly told News19 many students aren’t ready for the exams not only academically, but mentally and emotionally.

"For a lot of these students, they will have been back in school for two or three weeks and then we put them straight into a high stakes, high stress standardized testing environment," said Kelly.

Schools will be required to administer the exams, but the U.S. Department of Education granted a waiver in participation requirements. Students are strongly encouraged to take the tests but won’t be required to.

"It is the decision left up to that family as to whether they can send their child safely to school for the purpose of taking this test." said Spearman.

Despite the participation waiver, Kelly is concerned that teachers will still need to pivot their lesson plans to prepare for the exams.

RELATED: Feds to South Carolina: Assessment testing will continue in schools

"Instead of focusing on instructional recovery, they’re going to have to focus on test preparation, and I just think that’s really disheartening and disappointing," said Kelly.

The exams usually count for 20% of high school students final grades but this year, school districts can waive that if desired.

All school districts will offer the exams in the last 30 days of the school year but there will be no penalty for students, teachers or schools that don’t complete the assessments.

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