What pandemic-related test waiver requests suggest about states’ testing priorities

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened tensions around standardized testing policy and prompted the United States Department of Education to allow states to request waivers from federal standardized testing requirements. Paul Bruno and Dan Goldhaber describe the waivers that states requested and received, what they suggest about how state test results might be used for different purposes and by different people, and what uses of testing seem to be most salient to policy makers. They conclude with recommendations for policy makers about how to design testing policy that can both improve educational outcomes and maintain robust political support, objectives achieved at best imperfectly by existing testing policy.