State school superintendent to release new plan over mandated tests following White House letter

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The state school superintendent is telling parents not to worry about federally mandated standardized tests just 24 hours after the White House said students are expected to meet those requirements.

When education Secretary Betsy Devos visited Forsyth Central High School last week, she didn’t mention those federally mandated assessment tests.

She approved suspending them in the spring because of the pandemic. But when Georgia asked if it could suspend them again, Devos said no.

“I think they’ve provided a great road map. At the same time, there is no one size fits all,” Devos said during her visit.

However, she gave no inkling she was considering requiring Forsyth and other school districts across the country to start administering those federally mandated assessment tests again.

Devos granted states waivers back in the spring to stop them all because of the pandemic.

But in a letter to state school superintendent Richard Woods, Devos wrote “you should not anticipate such waivers being granted again.”

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“There’s nothing written in stone. People can change their minds. We may actually be dealing with another administration come January,” Woods said.

Woods was not happy with the letter telling Channel 2′s Richard Elliot that parents, students and teachers have enough on their plate with the pandemic and the opening and closing of schools to have to worry about another test.

So, he said, while they’re required to give those tests, Georgia won’t give them nearly as much academic weight as it has in years past.

“We’re dealing with adult issues and not necessarily educational issues, so we’ll be rolling out our package in the next few days,” Woods said.

Lois Houston has a daughter at Forsyth Central. She doesn’t like standardized testing anyway, so she wasn’t happy with the return to those assessment tests.

“When I saw that note yesterday saying that she had, you know, weighed in on a different direction, I was disappointed,” Houston said.

Woods said the plan to handle those federally mandated tests should be ready soon.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article typed the Woods quote as “We’ll actually be dealing with another administration come January.” This has been corrected to say “We may actually be dealing with another administration come January.”

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