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<div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/A.wav' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='Many American Students Decide to not Take Standardized Tests' data-article-id='5691'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='8354'>Standardized tests are tests that aim to measure a student’s progress in a subject. </span> <span data-start-time='8354' data-end-time='16625'>The tests are returning to America’s schools this spring after the year-long pandemic.</span> <span data-start-time='16625' data-end-time='23375'>But millions of students will face shorter exams that carry less importance. </span> <span data-start-time='23375' data-end-time='29896'>And most families are being given the choice to not do testing at all.</span> <span data-start-time='29896' data-end-time='38500'>With new guidelines from the Biden administration, states are using different testing plans.</span> <span data-start-time='38500' data-end-time='47417'>These plans aim to reduce the stress of tests while still getting some data on student learning.</span> <span data-start-time='47417' data-end-time='60021'>However, large numbers of students will go untested, meaning it will be unclear how much learning has been set back by the pandemic.</span> <span data-start-time='60021' data-end-time='70146'>Robin Lake is director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington.</span> <span data-start-time='70146' data-end-time='76875'>“We will end up with a highly imperfect set of data,” Lake said.</span> <span data-start-time='76875' data-end-time='89500'>Lake added that the U.S. will have to follow and learn about the issue “for at least the next few years, and maybe the next decade.”</span> <span data-start-time='89500' data-end-time='101146'>The current debate is the latest in a series of battles over school testing among American parents and education leaders.</span> <span data-start-time='101146' data-end-time='105167'>As in the past, parents are divided. </span> <span data-start-time='105167' data-end-time='112125'>Some are demanding tests to get an idea of their children’s progress. </span> <span data-start-time='112125' data-end-time='118313'>Others see no need to put their children through the stress of a test.</span> <span data-start-time='118313' data-end-time='124521'>As a teacher, Jay Wamsted believes there is value in testing.</span> <span data-start-time='124521' data-end-time='133875'>But when his sixth-grade daughter Kira asked to not be tested this year, he saw no reason to object. </span> <span data-start-time='133875' data-end-time='141042'>He already knows she needs to catch up on math after months of online learning. </span> <span data-start-time='141042' data-end-time='149417'>And as a teacher at her school, he knew that many other students were not taking the tests either.</span> <span data-start-time='149417' data-end-time='156396'>“I know she’s a little behind, and I don’t need that data,” said Wamsted.</span> <span data-start-time='156396' data-end-time='168563'>Parent Abby Norman found her third-grade daughter crying in her bedroom the morning tests were set to begin at her school near Atlanta, Georgia.</span> <span data-start-time='168563' data-end-time='176396'>Priscilla, 9, had just returned to the classroom after learning from home. </span> <span data-start-time='176396' data-end-time='180208'>She was worried that she was not prepared. </span> <span data-start-time='180208' data-end-time='183146'>But she did well on the test.</span> <span data-start-time='183146' data-end-time='192063'>“She was so nervous about this test that I don’t care about at all, that does not matter to me,” said Norman.</span> <span data-start-time='192063' data-end-time='200750'>Those who oppose testing say it is the last thing students need after such a difficult year.</span> <span data-start-time='200750' data-end-time='210667'>Schools have other ways to study students’ progress, they say, and testing only takes away from classroom time.</span> <span data-start-time='210667' data-end-time='217729'>Testing supporters say that there is still value in collecting as much data as possible. </span> <span data-start-time='217729' data-end-time='227958'>Lake, at the University of Washington, said even imperfect results can be used to help students recover.</span> <span data-start-time='227958' data-end-time='239375'>In normal years, the federally required tests are used to study a school’s performance and its student’s progress. </span> <span data-start-time='239375' data-end-time='248938'>In some states, students must pass certain tests to move to the next grade or graduate from high school. </span> <span data-start-time='248938' data-end-time='259813'>But this year, most states are measuring student growth and not making schools and students responsible for the results.</span> <span data-start-time='259813' data-end-time='272000'>After last year’s tests were canceled, there was hope that this year’s exams would give information about the pandemic’s effect on education. </span> <span data-start-time='272000' data-end-time='286146'>But different testing between states now makes a comparative study impossible, said Scott Marion, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Assessment. </span> <span data-start-time='286146' data-end-time='290917'>The group helps states design and evaluate tests.</span> <span data-start-time='290917' data-end-time='295479'>Still, he believes the results will have value. </span> <span data-start-time='295479' data-end-time='306688'>As schools begin the long process to help students recover, he said, this year’s data will provide a starting point to measure against.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/A.jpeg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=17575 data-hint-location='0' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/what_does_it_mean_to_measure.wav'>What does it mean to measure?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='to assess the extent, quality, value, or effect'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/to_assess_the_extent_quality_value_or_effect.wav'><span>to assess the extent, quality, value, or effect</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/to_remove_all_traces_of.wav'><span>to remove all traces of</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/to_keep_carefully.wav'><span>to keep carefully</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/to_give_food_to.wav'><span>to give food to</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=17576 data-hint-location='76875' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/how_long_is_a_decade.wav'>How long is a decade?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='ten years'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/ten_years.wav'><span>ten years</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/five_years.wav'><span>five years</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/fifty_years.wav'><span>fifty years</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/one_hundred_years.wav'><span>one hundred years</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=17577 data-hint-location='112125' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/others_see_no_need_to_put_their_children_through_the__blank__of_a_test.wav'>Others see no need to put their children through the <span class='blank'>stress</span> of a test.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='stress'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/joy.wav'><span>joy</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/excitement.wav'><span>excitement</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/stress.wav'><span>stress</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/5153/torture.wav'><span>torture</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button 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