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Some officials in the Syracuse City School District are frustrated with the U.S. Department of Education’s recent decision to require standardized testing in all schools amid the pandemic. 

The department announced its move in February after several states requested that it waive standardized tests for the second year in a row. Last year, the Department of Education allowed all states to waive tests due to challenges that the pandemic and virtual learning posed for many students. 

New York state announced Monday that it would cancel most spring and summer Regents exams that aren’t required by the Department of Education. Students will only have to take exams in Algebra I, English, Living Environment and Earth Science in June and won’t have to pass any exams to earn their diplomas. 

But some SCSD officials and board members said they’re still disappointed in the Department of Education’s decision, as many students are still facing academic and emotional challenges as a result of online classes. 

Laura Kelley, the chief academic officer at SCSD, is one of many educators who said they were let down by the federal government’s decision. In her 20 years as an educator, Kelley has never seen a school year quite like this one.

The pandemic has had a “tremendous impact on learning and instruction” for students who, before the switch to online learning, were used to spending six hours a day in the classroom, said Katie Sojewicz, the district’s Board of Education president.

“One of the hardest things our students and staff have had to deal with is the separation from each other and trying to learn how to build relationships via technology,” she said. 

Sojewicz and Kelley said they’re unsure whether standardized tests for this academic year would even be accurate, as virtual learning is still fairly new to students. 

“Virtual learning has been as a whole devastating for most of our learners in terms of having to make this adjustment,” Kelley said. 

Based on data SCSD schools have collected this year, students are not making the same kind of academic progress they usually do, Kelley said. 

Sojewicz said it will be difficult for the federal government to fairly allocate resources to schools based on standardized test results since school districts across the state and country all have different models for how they are instructing students. It’s unfair to compare school districts that have conducted classes in person this year to schools that have held them online or through a hybrid format, she said.

“It’s like comparing apples to oranges,” Sojewicz said. 

Kelley said she understands the federal government’s interest in gathering data on the impact of COVID-19 on academic progress, but she’s not sure that state assessments will tell what students need on an individual level. 

“If the federal Department of Education is really concerned with what our students need, they just have to ask the school districts, because we know, and give us the resources,” Sojewicz said. “We don’t need a test to tell us that.” 

The pandemic has also exposed inequities in the education system, Sojewicz said. Some students do not have access to technology or stable internet or have a suitable home environment for online learning. 

Teachers and education officials have also questioned how students who don’t have access to technology can access standardized tests, which are largely administered online. 

Standardized testing contradicts the idea that schools are concerned about children’s mental wellbeing, Kelley said. Assessments don’t tell schools what they want to know about students’ social and emotional health and what they need to do to support them, she said. 

“If we’re truly worried about that, then we would not put this additional stressor on students,” she said. 

Published on March 16, 2021 at 10:54 pm