February 3, 2021
The Schott Foundation is proud to add our name, alongside our longtime partners and allies, to this open letter to Dr. Miguel Cardona, President Biden's pick for Secretary of Education. It's time to follow up on candidate Biden's promise on standardized tests: cancel the spring 2021 testing mandate.
To: Secretary of Education Nominee, Miguel Cardona
Dear Dr. Cardona:
On December 14, 2019, President Joe Biden participated in the 2020 Public Education Forum held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Early childhood expert, Dr. Denisha Jones, explained the damage done by standardized testing and then asked, “If you are elected President, will you commit to the ending of standardized testing in public schools?”
Joe Biden's response was immediate, direct, and clear. “Yes.” He continued, passionately declaring that “teaching to a test underestimates and discounts the things that are most important for students to know.” As you listen to his full remarks regarding why he is opposed to standardized testing, you will hear the authentic response of someone who is not only married to a teacher but who, growing up with a disability, may have felt the brunt of standardized testing himself.
We, the undersigned understand that the pandemic has inflicted enormous social, emotional, physical, and academic harm on America’s children. We also know that the consequences of the pandemic have not fallen equally on some children’s shoulders. Those who were disadvantaged prior to Covid-19 are bearing a disproportionate weight from experiencing more loss, more hunger, and more stress than their more affluent peers.
It does not take a standardized assessment to know that for millions of America’s children, the burden of learning remotely, either full- or part-time, expands academic learning gaps between haves and have nots. Whenever children are able to return fully to their classrooms, every instructional moment should be dedicated to teaching, not to teasing out test score gaps that we already know exist. If the tests are given this spring, the scores will not be released until the fall of 2021 when students have different teachers and may even be enrolled in a different school. Scores will have little to no diagnostic value when they finally arrive. Simply put, a test is a measure, not a remedy.
To believe that it is impossible for teachers to identify and address learning gaps without a standardized test is to have a breathtaking lack of faith in our nation’s teachers. The President made it clear in his remarks that he believes in the ability of teachers to identify what students do and do not know; we hope that you do, too.
Like the President, some of us who sign this letter reject the need for the standardized testing regimes that exploded over the past quarter-century. Others conclude that such testing has a limited role. However, we all maintain that at this moment in time, it is in the best interest of children that the U.S. Department of Education lift the mandate for annual testing this spring.
We hope that you agree with the sentiments of President Biden and with us, and upon your confirmation immediately cancel the 2021 testing mandate.
Respectfully submitted by the 74 national, state and local organizations who signed below and the 10,732 Americans who, to date have signed as well. You can find their names here.
The Network for Public Education
The Schott Foundation for Public Education
National Center for Fair & Open Testing, Inc. (FairTest)
The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS)
Journey for Justice Alliance
In The Public Interest
The National Superintendents Roundtable
Defending the Early Years
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools
Arizona Educators United
BASD (Bethlehem Area School District) joe biden.
Badass Teachers Association (BATs)
Bay Area Collective Keeping Privatizers Away from Community Schools BACKPACS
Broward BATs
California Educators United
Children Are More Than Test Scores
Citizens for Public Schools, Boston, Massachusetts
Class Size Matters
Coalition for Equity
Connecticut Public School Advocates
Educators for Democratic Schools
Florida BATs
Florida Council of Churches
Fund Education NOW Florida
Illinois Families for Public Schools
Indiana Coalition for Public Education
Indiana Coalition for Public Education — Monroe County
Iowans for Public Education
It Takes a Village
It Takes a Village to Tackle HB70
Long Island Opt Out
MI CORE (Michigan Caucus of Rank and File Educators)
MI Ed Justice
Miami-Dade County Public School Parents (MDCPS Parents)
Michigan Collective for Equity in Education
National Educators United
New Rochelle FUSE (Federation United School Employees)
New York State Allies for Public Education
Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education
Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education
Northwest Ohio Friends of Public Education
Ohio BATs
Opt Out Georgia
Oregon BATs
Oregon Save our Schools
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy
Parents for Public Schools — National
Parents for Public Schools Greenwood and LeFlore County (Mississippi)
Pastors for Florida Children
Pastors for North Carolina Children
Pastors for Oklahoma Children
Pastors for Tennessee Children
Pastors for Texas Children
Public Education Matters Georgia
Public Education Partners (Ohio)
Public Schools First NC
Raise Your Hand Illinois
Rethinking Schools
Rochester Coalition for Public Education
Save Michigan’s Public Schools
Save our Schools New Jersey
Save our Schools North Carolina
School and Communities United Milwaukee
Step Up Louisiana
Support Our Students Alabama
Tennessee BATs
The New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools
The Public Science Project at the CUNY Graduate Center
United for Florida Children
Washington Township Parent Council Network of Indianapolis
Wear Red for Ed
Wellstone Democratic Club
When Public Schools Reopen