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Student assessment during COVID-19
Schools face enormous challenges regarding how to operate efficiently and safely for the 2020-21 school year. Parents, educators, administrators, and policymakers need more information about how students are doing and being served, not less. These data need to capture multiple aspects of student well-being, including social-emotional needs, engagement, and conditions for learning so that families, educators, and local and state leaders can be responsive to the needs of all students. Just as importantly, there is a need for comparable data to look across schools and student groups to better understand the overall academic performance of children. Therefore, the annual assessment requirement should not be waived; instead, states must adapt and be responsive to the nation's new reality and create a plan to scale back the assessments--not eliminate them.