Minnesota Opinion: Student testing this spring still of great value From the editorial: "(It can) serve as a baseline for tracking Minnesota’s academic recovery from the pandemic." Written By: Duluth News Tribune Editorial Board | 7:30 am, Apr. 14, 2021 × If Minnesota gets its way, school kids this spring will take standardized math and reading tests, like normal, but the results won’t be used to flag or penalize schools that are struggling or underachieving. This doesn’t mean the return of statewide testing — it was canceled last year in Minnesota due to COVID-19 — won’t be of great value. The testing can play a huge role in gauging how students are doing and where they’re at after a challenging year of distance learning, district-by-district mixes of in-person and virtual classes, limited days of instruction, and more, all as a result of the pandemic.