In the spring of 2020, the US Department of Education (USED), granted the District of Columbia, and every other state in the country, waivers of federal requirements relating to assessment, accountability, and some reporting components on state report cards due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. At that time, OSSE suspended statewide assessments and did not report the School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework in the 2019-20 school year.

Due to the challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is submitting requests to the US Department of Education (USED) for flexibility in implementing components of the statewide accountability system known as the School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework and other accountability elements required in the state’s approved Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)  plan . OSSE will make requests to the USED for flexibility available to state education agencies through an ESSA State Plan Addendum and through the waiver process.

Specifically, OSSE will make the following requests to the USED:

• Through the ESSA Addendum, ask for flexibility to identified areas of the accountability system to which USED has identified as being directly impacted by unavailable data from the 2019-20 school year and the continued impacts resulting from the COVID-19 national emergency.
• OSSE will not calculate the School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework for the 2020-21 school year.
• OSSE will not identify new schools for Comprehensive or targeted support using data from the 2020-21 school year.
• Will shift all three long term goals forward by one year.
• Through a waiver, to address those components not included in the addendum but are also impacted by unavailable data and impacts as a result of the current COVID-19 emergency, OSSE will request flexibility to:
• Waive the administration of DC Science for the 2020-21 school year.
• Waive the identification of Targeted Support 1 (TS1) schools in school year 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to the absence of STAR Framework scores and limitations with growth calculations, which would utilize data from the 2020-21 school year  

The USED requires states to provide an opportunity for the public to review and provide comment on the addendum and the waiver. Public comments may be submitted to [email protected] and will be accepted until Friday, Jan. 22, 2021. The proposed ESSA Addendum and Waiver are posted below for review.

For questions related to statewide assessments, please contact Danielle Branson at [email protected]. For questions related to accountability, please contact Donna Johnson at [email protected].

Related Content: Every Student Succeeds Act