Public comment period extended on federal assessments waiver
Thursday, December 17, 2020
The Oregon Department of Education has extended the public comment period through Jan. 11 on dropping federally required statewide assessments.
Last school year, the U.S. Department of Education waived the assessments required by the Every Student Succeeds Act, the most well-known of which are Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests or SBAC. ODE plans to seek a waiver again this year, saying schools’ limited in-person time with students would be better spent on work that supports student learning.
According to ODE, COVID-19’s disruptions would render most data from the tests meaningless.
The public comment period was supposed to close Dec. 15, but ODE said people asked for more time to give their input.
