Amanda Walker Johnson News Today

A national expert on diversity in academia, Dr. Branch serves as the senior vice president for equity at Rutgers University.

Listen / Missouri’s education department is holding firm on the need to administer standardized testing this spring, even as teachers and parents say it’s a waste of valuable instructional time and the cause of undue stress on kids. Missouri will not use test scores in calculating a district’s annual performance scores, but education officials and researchers say the scores are necessary to benchmark learning during the pandemic. Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Second...

St. Louis Public Radio Many teachers and parents want annual standardized testing skipped again this spring. But state education officials say the data, even if flawed, is still valuable. Missouri school students will sit down for state assessments soon. For some, it’ll be their first time in a classroom in more than a year. Teachers and parents say testing should be canceled, but education officials counter the data is critical. Missouri’s education department is holding firm on the need t...