Officials: No state testing for students, Missouri schools won’t make up days missed
And now for a bit of good news that’s likely to bring a collective cheer from students: You won’t have to take statewide tests and, in Missouri, you won’t be making up missed days.
Most Kansas City area schools are still on spring break, but studying at home will be the new norm soon as districts help combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
“There is a time and a place for required statewide testing; now is not the time,” Missouri Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said in a virtual announcement to educators across the state on Thursday. “We will be canceling required statewide assessments” for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.
Vandeven made her announcement less than 24 hours before President Donald Trump announced that no students in the country will need to take state tests this year.
“I think students will be happy to hear this,” Trump said. “They have been through a lot.”
Kansas state education leaders, in a guidance released on Thursday, said the state “does not expect schools to administer state assessments when schools are closed. Even though the Kansas state assessments are administered online, the tests can’t be given to students in a remote location.”
Kansas schools are closed for the remainder of the academic year, under order from the governor. Missouri left it up to individual districts, and Kansas City area schools will be closed until April 6 — and maybe longer.
“We are happy that federal government and state governments have relaxed that requirement,” said Kenny Southwick, executive director of the Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City, which includes 31 districts on the Missouri side. “It doesn’t make sense for teachers to be trying to figure out how to do state assessments when kids are not even in school. Our priority is to make sure our kids are fed, to make sure our employees are paid and to deliver instruction in the best way we can.”
Doug Thaman, executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association, said the decision to suspend testing was the right one.
“Obviously, it does lead to lots of new questions we have to work out, such as how to assess student performance and what’s the best use of summer school. There are lots of unknowns right now.” But, he said educators will sort those issues out fairly soon.
Mark Tallman, associate director of the Kansas Association of School Boards, said that even if students did take state tests this year, “the results would certainly have little validity.” He said the last time Kansas missed a testing year, due to technology issues, was 2014.
Vandeven also assured school districts that none will be penalized in state annual progress reports that measure such things as academics, graduation rates and student attendance in determining how well schools are doing.
Districts “will not be required to make up” days lost due to COVID-19. And she said that hours of instruction that are missed “will not impact the calculation of average daily attendance,” which, under normal circumstances, determines state funding for public schools.
Vandeven said that with the spread of COVID-19, districts and charters “should make attendance decisions based on the safety and well-being of their students and staff, without concern that the low attendance numbers will negatively impact payment.”
Knowing that districts will not lose money on attendance, Southwick said, “It does give us solace knowing that the dollars are going to be there for this year’s budget.”
The only assessments some students may still take would be for seniors who are looking to qualify for Missouri’s free tuition A+ program. Vandeven said more details on those assessments will come later.
She praised educators for how they have responded to the unprecedented circumstances that have forced the shuttering of schools across the country. Kansas City area schools are still working out how to proceed with distance learning to keep students on track.
“It is important to remember that even when school buildings are closed, learning can and will continue. Learning can take place in a variety of ways and isn’t limited to virtual opportunities,” Vandeven said, adding that she is “amazed by how” the state’s teachers and administrators, “have acclimated to this new way of doing business.”
On Thursday, Kansas education officials said school districts must submit their plans by April 15 on how they will educate students for the rest of the year, whether it’s by internet, packets sent home or, in rural areas, classrooms with no more than 10 people, to comply with health regulations.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 12:22 PM.
