This letter, led by the Alliance for Excellent Education, responds to Department of Education guidance issued in October 2020 to chief state school officers regarding assessments, data reporting, and school accountability—in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The signers of the letter support the guidance’s maintenance of federal expectations regarding state assessments and data use, as well as the one-year flexibilities and pathways proposed. Furthermore, the signers identify some additional questions for which the department should offer more guidance, including how states might work with community stakeholders to identify additional data to collect for an informed recovery plan and how states should modify or adapt their definitions of targeted support and improvement this year to account for the compounding effects of the pandemic.
Read the full letter here.