EPIC IN THE NEWS
Opinion | Let’s not flunk third-graders for low reading scores in a pandemic
DATE: March 10, 2021
Tests have value, and the data they produce has value, too. I’m not against either one, but like everything else in this world, they have their time and place. This much is clear: the middle of a deadly, global pandemic is simply not the time to use testing data to flunk thousands of young, struggling readers.
In addition, vulnerable populations that have been hardest hit by COVID-19 may be retained at greater rates than the general population. A 2019 study by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University on estimated retention rates in Michigan showed that rates may be higher for African American and special education students, and an early study of the Florida program revealed that nearly 70 percent of retained students were recipients of free and reduced-price lunches.
Read the full news article here.
