Two-Minute Take: Student Testing to Resume This Spring

The U.S. Department of Education has announced that states must resume annual student testing this spring. Reliable, valid, and comparable exams will give policymakers the disaggregated data they need to understand and then address the disproportionate academic fallout from the pandemic, as a recent Bush Institute series revealed. Parents and caregivers deserve this data as well to help them advocate for their students. To be successful, school district leaders, and federal and state policymakers will need to maximize the power of tests to ensure children are being supported. Read recent policy recommendations on how they can do this.