President Larry Miller and Vice President Tony Báez Oppose Standardized Testing During the Pandemic

Milwaukee Public Schools President Larry Miller and Vice-President Tony Baez join the leaders representing four of the largest public school districts in Wisconsin (Milwaukee Public Schools – 74,683 students; Madison – 26,842 students; Green Bay – 20,248 students; and Racine – 17,529 students), in strongly urging state and federal officials to support students, staff, and families by granting a waiver of the required administration of standardized testing during the pandemic.

“We vehemently oppose testing for the sake of testing. Administering standardized tests during the pandemic does not will not promote meaningful teaching and learning and will only become a shaming tool,” says Miller. “We believe that the schools in Wisconsin should be granted the same flexibilities on standardized testing as other school districts across the nation, such as Washington D.C.” says Baez.

Not only is it difficult to administer standardized tests to students learning remotely, but the time it takes to do so is critical time taken away from in-person instruction. Further, the flawed data derived from testing during a pandemic will make testing even more useless.

“Nationally, school districts are pushing back, seeking some type of flexibility, if not a complete elimination of mandatory testing during the pandemic,” says Baez. “The people of Wisconsin, deserve solutions that address the disparities faced by our students and actions that will advance education and equity, rather than more testing.”

“We are standing with the leadership of the largest school districts in Wisconsin and will continue to fight for equity for our students. We will continue to keep parents informed about their option to opt out of certain standardized testing. We implore the Milwaukee community to contact state and federal representatives to demand approval of a waiver of the requirement to administer standardized testing to our students during the pandemic.”

Download a copy of the full release.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.