Update

In April 2021, the US Department of Education officially granted the District of Columbia a one-year waiver from both administering statewide assessments and publishing school accountability (STAR) ratings. The waivers apply to the following statutory requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA):

• Statewide assessment requirements in Section 1111(b)(2) to administer required statewide assessments in English language arts/literacy, mathematics, science, and alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities; 
• Statewide assessment participation requirements in Section 1111(c)(4)(E); and
• Consolidated State Plan for accountability, school identification, and reporting requirements in Section 1111(c)(4)(B)(i) and 1111(d)(2)(C)-(D) and selected report card provisions in Section 1111(h) based on data from the 2020-21 school year as specified in the Department’s Accountability Waiver template. In short, the waiver asked to suspend the calculation of new STAR ratings for the 2020-21 school year and new school designations for comprehensive and targeted improvements.

OSSE will continue administration of its ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 and Alternate ACCESS English language proficiency assessments in spring 2021.

The final waiver requests and the US Department of Education’s official response are available here. 

We value the use of comparable student performance data and recognize how important it is, particularly now. Our statewide assessment systems provide us critical information on academic performance across the city and we will be on track to resume administration in spring 2022. We are committed to working with our stakeholders to be able to provide information that is meaningful and useful in improving programs and supports for all students and schools.

Test Coordinators Training

Remaining OSSE test coordinator training events for spring 2021 will not be held. Recordings of previous test coordinator training events can be found in the resources below.

Resources

• 2020-21 School Year Test Coordinators Training
• 2019-20 School Year Test Coordinators Training
• 2018-19 School Year Test Coordinators Training