National US maths and reading exams postponed until 2022, amid the coronavirus pandemic - The Independent

National US maths and reading exams postponed until 2022, amid the coronavirus pandemic - The Independent

National US maths and reading exams postponed until 2022, amid the coronavirus pandemic - The Independent

Posted: 26 Nov 2020 12:00 AM PST

The National Centre for Education Statistics (NCES) has announced that a standardised test in maths and reading will be postponed in the US until 2022, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which assesses hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders, will be moved from spring 2021 to 2022, according to Reuters.

The NAEP assessments, often described as "the nation's report card", have long been used to measure educational progress in the US and are generally held every two years.

The assessments are overseen by the government and are used to create a representative sample of students from all socioeconomic backgrounds across the US, according to USA Today.

In a statement on Wednesday, NCES commissioner James Woodworth said: "I have determined that NCES cannot at this time conduct a national-level assessment in a manner with sufficient validity and reliability to meet the mandate of the law".

Watch more

The commissioner said that it is too difficult to find suitable conditions to assess students in time for the scheduled date of the exams, as many are being taught from home amid the pandemic.

"The change in operations and lack of access to students to be assessed means that NAEP will not be able to produce estimates of what students know and can do that would be comparable to either past or future national or state estimates," he said.

"I was obviously concerned about sending outsiders into schools and possibly increasing the risk of Covid transmission," Mr Woodworth added.

Coronavirus cases among US children have increased dramatically recently, as more than 256,000 positive tests among young people were recorded in the past two weeks.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its weekly figures for coronavirus cases in children on Monday, which showed close to 1.2 million positive tests for young people in the US since the pandemic began.

Coronavirus deaths in children are rare, as figures from the AAP show that the fatality rate is still around 0.01 per cent. At least 137 young people have died from the virus in the US.

Bobby Scott, the Democrat chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labour, and Democrat Patty Murray, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee, said in a joint statement on Wednesday that delaying the exams was "a moral imperative."

Watch more

However, education secretary Betsy DeVos wrote a letter to Congress and the centre on Tuesday that said "the much more valuable and actionable measures of learning loss will be the annual assessments required of states".

Ms DeVos added that because the NAEP is federally mandated, Congress will have to sign off on the decision to postpone the national tests.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 12.7 million people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached 262,435.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:00 AM PDT With exacting precision, the surgeon inserted the scalpel above the eyeball and cut out a snotty deposit of fatty tissue. The routine eye-lift was nearly complete when suddenly the patient awoke, suffocating, and began to flop about on the table. The audience gasped. Knowing time was of the essence, the surgeon scooped up the patient in his arms, raced across the stage, and dropped her into a tank of water. She revived. Because she was a fish. Yes, fish eye-lifts exist. As do fin jobs and tail tucks. The operating theater was a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, where a pet expo was under way. As for the patient, she survived, her formerly droopy eyes now bright and perky. A good thing, too, as this was no ordinary goldfish but rather an Asian arowana, the world's most expensive aquarium denizen, rumored to sell for as mu...
Read more

Catching Dory: selling aquarium fish supports coastal livelihoods in Indonesia | npj Ocean Sustainability - Nature.com

Image
Abstract The global marine aquarium trade has created new local markets across the planet, including in Indonesia, now the second-largest exporting country of marine aquarium fish in the world. Participating in the global aquarium trade has been touted as a potentially sustainable addition to fisher livelihoods, but scant data exist showing the numbers of fish coming off the reef and how those fish contribute to income. To determine how participants in the trade incorporate aquarium species in their livelihoods, we examine source-level aquarium fish collecting and trading data in the Banggai Archipelago, a region in Central Sulawesi that has become a significant source for popular aquarium, also known as ornamental, fish species. Using a sustainable livelihoods lens, we examine this data to understand how participants in the aquarium trade both contribute to as well as benefit from the trade and consider how their participation relates to emerging Blue Justice principles. From one year...
Read more

NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire

Image
NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire NilocG Launches New Website for the Only All-in-One Thrive Fertilization Solution for Planted Aquariums - PRNewswire Posted: 11 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PST ALBANY, Ore. , March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NilocG launches a new website for planted tank enthusiasts to gather and make THRIVE, a plant fertilizer that assures planted tank aquascapes flourish while eliminating the need for multiple products more readily available online. The company also takes it a step further in the industry, making its flagship product easy to dose, super-concentrated, and an all-in-one solution based on an effective EL dosing method with all essential micro and macronutrients. Continue Reading Thrive fertilizer: North America's most trusted aquarium plant fertilizer Colin Grice , CEO, a self-described planted tank lover, re...
Read more