Officials from the U.S. Department of Education have denied New York鈥檚 petition to create waivers for their state tests. The waivers were designed to accommodate students with disabilities as well as for students who are still learning English, according to in Chalkbeat. Despite the ruling, New York Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia explained that state education officials will meet with federal officials later this month in an effort to have them reverse their decision.
Disare explains that the U.S. Department of Education rejected two proposed waivers to the state鈥檚 annual standardized tests for students in grade 3 to 8. She notes that one of the waivers would have allowed some students with cognitive disabilities to take tests below their grade level,聽while the other would give students who recently arrived in the country and are still learning English additional time before their English scores are counted in a school rating’s rating.
The federal government also blocked the state鈥檚 plan which would have dealt with schools with high opt-out rates on the test, according to Disare. She explains how 鈥淣ew York officials had wanted to make sure that schools were not penalized if a large number of students sit out the state exams鈥� and stated that 鈥渢hey created two accountability measures 鈥� one that counted boycotted exams against a school鈥檚 passing rate and another that did not 鈥� and allowed schools to use the higher of the two ratings.鈥� The Department of Education rejected that formula, and instead insisted that the state treat boycotted exams as failures when judging the state鈥檚 annual progress.
Disare also notes that 鈥渇ederal reviewers could have forced the state to lower its graduation rate, but they appear to have decided against that drastic step.鈥�
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