Education Law Center is urging the administration of Governor Phil Murphy to apply for a waiver from federal testing mandates and suspend the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) scheduled for this spring.
In a letter dated February 2 from Executive Director David Sciarra, ELC is asking Governor Murphy to reconsider the NJ Department of Education’s (DOE) recently announced plans to proceed with state testing despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The compelling reasons for submitting such a [waiver] request are essentially the ones your Administration has acknowledged repeatedly since the COVID-19 pandemic began,” Mr. Sciarra wrote. “In fact, they are the same reasons your Administration suspended state graduation testing last year, secured an ESSA testing waiver for spring of 2020, suspended state testing this fall, and suspended state graduation testing again this year.”
In support of seeking a waiver, the letter cites the Governor’s Executive Order of April 7, 2020, regarding last spring’s suspension of testing, which states clearly that it is “not feasible to move forward with statewide assessments while students are unable to physically attend school due to necessary COVID-19-related closures.”
As a result, ELC underscores in its letter that “[a]ny effort to proceed with existing testing mandates raises significant public health issues,” noting that “ongoing extensive COVID-19-related closures continue throughout the state.”
In addition to the overall public health issues, ELC notes that the proposed testing “would span nearly three months and further restrict the instructional time and educator interaction available to the state’s most vulnerable students, including students of color, students with disabilities and students from low-income families.”