U.S. Dept. of Ed. denies state’s request to waive tests

Schools will have to give assessment exams

As Macomb County schools return from spring break this week they are learning the state of Michigan lost its attempt to waive requirements of standardized testing in the wake of the pandemic.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education denied Michigan’s request to waive the federal requirement to administer the state summative assessments. The statewide tests are given annually in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science.

In January, the Michigan Department of Education requested waivers to federal requirements for state summative tests, as well as waivers of associated highstakes accountability requirements. The accountability waivers were approved on March 26.

It was the MDE assertion that in a brutally difficult year for students, parents, and educators, it would have been wrong to force school districts to spend a good portion of the spring on Michigan’s year-end state summative tests when teachers could better spend that time working with

their students.

As an alternative to the state summative tests, MDE argued that locally chosen and administered national benchmark assessments, required by state law last summer for this school year, would be more beneficial in providing parents and educators with the knowledge of where children are academically and to help target resources and supports as a result.

The MDE proposed requiring local educational agencies (LEAs) to administer benchmark assessments in reading/language arts and mathematics, noting each LEA is required to have a benchmark assessment that it is using this year. The MDE also requested a waiver to suspend administration of the statewide English language proficiency (ELP) assessment. The request was also rejected.

“The Department remains committed to supporting all states in assessing the learning of all students. Obtaining data on student learning includes high-quality statewide assessments, which can help identify where opportunity gaps are persistent and have been exacerbated – particularly during the pandemic – and, along with other data, can help states direct resources and support to close those gaps,” Ian Rosenblum, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs at the USED told the state. “At the same time, we must also recognize that we are in the midst of a pandemic that requires real flexibility.

“MDE has not demonstrated, however, specific circumstances that would warrant granting a waiver of the annual statewide assessment requirements and, specifically, not administering statewide assessments at all. As a result, and after carefully considering the State’s request, I am declining to approve the request because it does not meet the statutory requirements for a waiver ...,” Rosenblum said.

With the USED denying Michigan’s request to waive the federal requirement for state summative assessments, local school districts will still be expected to administer the state tests as scheduled. These include MSTEP for students in grades 3-8; PSAT 8/9 for students in 8th grade; MME, including SAT, for students in 11th grade; MI-ACCESS for students receiving special education services in grades 3-8 and 11; and WIDA for students in English learner programs in grades K-12. Many of those tests are being administered around the county this week.

Michigan Department of Education Superintendent Michael Rice was disappointed with the decision.

“With its decision to deny Michigan’s request to waive M-STEP testing in the midst of the pandemic, USED continues to demonstrate its disconnect from conditions in public schools in Michigan and across the country,” Rice said. “Michigan has the highest rates of recent COVID-19 cases and recent cases per 100,000 in the nation at the moment. Our state legislators and governor had the foresight to require districts to administer benchmark assessments in the fall and in the spring of this school year to provide data to educators and parents and to help target resources, interventions, and supports to students in districts. USED even canceled its own assessment—the National Assessment of Educational Progress—in November, an acknowledgement of the pandemic at that time.

“For a state that has mandated benchmark assessments this year to inform educators and parents of where students are in reading and math, USED’s lockstep allegiance in a pandemic to state summative assessments such as MSTEP is simply fidelity to two decades of education policy drift under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and its uncreative and still punitive offspring,” Rice added.

“Is it any wonder that educators are leaving the profession when, in a pandemic, USED insists that Michigan use time, which should be dedicated to children’s social emotional and academic growth, to test a portion of its students to generate data that will inform precisely nothing about our children’s needs that we won’t already know more substantially and quickly with benchmark assessments this year?”

Alesia Flye, the assistant superintendent for instruction and chief academic officer for the Macomb Intermediate School District, was not surprised by the decision.

“We told our superintendents in the county that they need to be prepared for that decision in case they still have to administer the tests,” Flye said. “We didn’t know when we would get the decision. But in Macomb County, we were prepared.”

Some school districts in Macomb County have chosen to have virtual instruction only this week to stop the spread of COVID-19 following spring break. Several districts have returned to in-person learning. But Flye said there has been some modified scheduling this week so that there would be a limited amount of students in the building. Students who were scheduled to test were in-person in their school building, while those not scheduled to be tested were remote.

Flye agreed with the state position that this year, with the disruptions and challenges that have already taken place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the local benchmark assessment tests administered individually by districts would have been adequate. Those tests also provide school systems with data about student performance.

“One of things we have access to is the local benchmark assessments,” Flye said. “Given the disruption to the school schedule, we thought the local benchmark testing would have been adequate assessment. We thought that would have been acceptable.”

Michigan State Board of Education President Casandra Ulbrich had sharp criticism of the decision.

“This is beyond disappointing. It’s shameful,” Ulbrich said. “USDE had an opportunity to do the right thing for the right reasons, and instead chose to appease special interests rather than support students. Michigan citizens, educators and parents will get virtually no useful and actionable information from this year’s state tests. It would be shameful now if the state legislature used these ‘results’ to impose negative consequences on children or schools.”

The decision also directly impacts students who have been receiving remote instruction for the entire 2020-21 school year. The MDE has informed school districts that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it does not support requiring otherwise remote or virtual students to be brought into school solely for the purpose of state assessment. Districts will have to offer remote or virtual students the opportunity to come into school to take the appropriate state summative assessments.

That means it’s quite likely students on a 100% virtual platform will not be taking the assessment tests, meaning their data would not be included in overall data collection.

Flye said the the MISD has heard from some parents and students indicating they are grateful they are still able to take the PSAT and more importantly, the SAT, a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States.

While taking that test is of greatest benefit to the students, Flye said the SAT results are also used by intermediate and local districts to assess curriculum just like the local benchmark assessments and tests such as the M-STEP.

Rosenblum told the MDE in the ruling letter that it may revise its waiver request to meet federal requirements and resubmit the revised waiver request. If the MDE decides to resubmit, it must do so no later than 60 days from the date of the letter, which was April 6.

Flye didn’t know how the state may respond. In Macomb County, much of the testing in dispute is taking place this week.