What COVID-19 Means for School Closures, Testing, and Accountability Efforts
March 13, 2020
As Jim Cowen writes for Forbes, the wave of school closures has rightly sparked a discussion about the “issues of providing meals and other educational services to America’s school children.” In addition, these closures increase the likelihood that “many students will be out of school at the time they would typically take their designated state test.” These assessments are part of ESSA’s federal requirements, and without the data they provide, it will be harder for education policymakers to “measure a school year’s worth of growth among students and break it down by student subgroups and schools.” Fortunately, the Department of Education “has started to engage on the issue and provide direction to states that may later need to request a waiver around the participation rate requirement.”