How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Affected State Testing
How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Affected State Testing By Corinne Bishop, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Education Advanced, Inc. The COVID-19 pandemic has left lasting changes on our educational system including the shift to online learning, new health and safety protocols, and concerns around learning loss. We also saw states cancelling end of year testing in 2020 for the first time since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002. In 2021, testing resumed with its own set of changes. Below we explore three key ways the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted state testing. 1. An accelerated shift to online testing The shift to online testing has been underway for many years, but COVID-19 accelerated the trend. Schools moved to remote and hybrid learning environments, making devices and ecosystems of education technology tools an integral part of the learning experience. This school year, every single state will be offering online testing for at least one