California schools will be expected to administer Smarter Balanced and other statewide tests this spring, but districts can select alternatives in cases where these tests are not “viable” to administer, federal education officials said Tuesday.
Delivered in a letter to State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the decision comes amid an increasingly confusing national testing landscape this spring, as other states have received a mix of approval and denials for various testing proposals.
In California, school districts may be scratching their heads over what could deem their situation appropriate for seeking alternatives.
The race to vaccinate continues as California targets minority communities
John Locher/AP
FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2021 file photo, people receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the Martin Luther King Senior Center in North Las Vegas. Coronavirus cases are continuing to decline in the U.S. after a winter surge. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases in the country dropped below 100,000 on Friday, Feb. 12 for the first time since November 4. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
and last updated 2021-04-09 11:56:55-04
(KERO) â The CDC is now saying 1-in-4 adults have been fully vaccinated. This as Johnson and Johnson warns of a drop in supply next week.
Credit: Andrew Reed/EdSource
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda during a press conference. Newsom announced Tuesday that he expects all schools and higher education insitutions to offer full-time in-person instruction in the fall after retiring the reopening tier system.
Credit: Andrew Reed/EdSource
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda during a press conference. Newsom announced Tuesday that he expects all schools and higher education insitutions to offer full-time in-person instruction in the fall after retiring the reopening tier system.
April 6, 2021
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials said Tuesday they expect all schools and higher education institutions to open for full-time in-person instruction in the fall, following the announcement that California intends to retire its “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” color-coded tier system on June 15.
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All K-12 California schools should be open in the fall for full-time, five-days-a-week, in-person instruction under guidelines released Tuesday by state officials.
Gov. Gavin Newsom stopped short Tuesday of saying this guidance would become a mandate, but added that he is considering additional measures, as necessary, to make sure that schoolchildren are not left behind on June 15, when the state has scheduled a sweeping economic reopening.
Newsom said campuses at all levels, including higher education, should be open. He added this is consistent with his actions to date to reopen classrooms, which have included financial incentives and accelerated vaccinations for school employees.
Californians as young as 16 are next in line for the Covid-19 vaccine, potentially moving the state another step closer to reopening all schools for full-time in-person instruction. But whether vaccines help to reopen schools depends on whether parents are willing to get their children vaccinated.
On April 15 eligibility for the vaccination will extend to Californians 16 and older. That minimum age could drop even lower in the coming months. Last week, Pfizer-BioNTech announced that its vaccine was “100 percent effective” and safe for children as young as 12. The company plans to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the vaccine for use in adolescents age 12-15 before the beginning of next school year.