SEATTLE — Public school students in Washington will not take standardized tests this spring, state schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal announced Wednesday.
Instead, students will take the Smarter Balanced Assessments or the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science in the fall.
Reykdal said the decision to delay testing to the fall will allow educators across the state to “focus on engaging their students and families over the last two months of school; supporting their academic and social-emotional needs as we prepare for a comprehensive opening of our public schools this fall.”
In a typical year, approximately 700,000 Washington public school students in specific grades take assessment testing in the spring.
In March, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) submitted a proposal to reduce the number of students who take the standardized tests this spring from 700,000 to 50,000.
Reykdal said the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) approved a separate waiver concerning accountability requirements, but “were not supportive of OSPI’s sampling approach related to assessments.”
Reykdal said the OSPI and the DOE “had different values” in the end and couldn’t agree on a plan.
“[The DOE] were seeking to test as many students as possible this spring, and we know this approach did not support the mental health of Washington’s students; nor is it the best use of our limited remaining in-person instructional hours this spring,” Reykdal said in a press release.