The Texas Education Agency (TEA) received federal approval last week “to waive statewide assessment and accountability requirements” under the Every Student Succeeds Act for the 2019-2020 school year. In light of the mandatory school closures due to COVID-19, “all districts and campuses will receive a...
Tens of thousands of schools across the country have closed in response to the spread of coronavirus, throwing state assessments into disarray. After initially considering “targeted” waivers of federal testing requirements, the Department of Education “shifted to a broader approach that will let most states...
According to Education Week, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative “has provided a combined $1.3 million in grants” to support online teaching efforts, organizations navigating “complicated policy questions,” and parents impacted by coronavirus-related school closures. The International Society for Education Testing and the State Educational Technology Directors...
While the coronavirus economic aid package gives U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos authority to waive some key federal education requirements under ESSA, current law “does include restrictions on the secretary’s waiver power,” including funding-related restrictions. Secretary DeVos “can’t waive requirements for allocating of federal...
The Trump administration’s waiving of federally required testing normally required under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) does not apply to homeschooling families, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). While schools will not need to adhere to ESSA’s federal testing requirements in...
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic “can bypass standardized testing for the 2019-2020 school year.” After receiving a “proper” request, the Department “will grant a waiver to any state that is unable to assess...
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump Administration “moved to waive federal requirements for standardized tests for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and gave borrowers with student loans the option of suspending payments.” Those with federal student loan debt can request a postponement...
Education Week’s Alyson Klein reports that Education Secretary DeVos “has allowed nearly half of states to get wiggle room” from an ESSA provision “aimed at making sure that only a small percentage of students are taking alternative tests reserved for children with the most significant...
ESSA was “designed to let states determine for themselves how to hold schools accountable,” writes Jessica R. Towhey in the NH Journal, but it “may leave more children behind if states are allowed to skirt federal requirements through waivers.” Shifting responsibility for education from the...
After Florida submitted its ESSA plan, it “quickly became clear that the waivers the state Department of Education planned to seek were no longer there.” A “closer read of the final version, though, reveals that while the state did not request any formal waiver of...
