PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT NEWS

New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart issued the following statement Thursday regarding spring assessments:

“The New Mexico Public Education Department has not canceled spring end-of-year assessments. We have a request before the U.S. Department of Education (attached) to waive a requirement that 95 percent of New Mexico students participate in these assessments. Instead, we have asked to test a representative sample of students, which would provide us with the information educators, families and communities need to gauge academic progress.

“We submitted our request on Feb. 17. On Monday, the USDE announced it would not waive spring assessments across the board and across the country as it had in spring 2020 but invited states to request whatever flexibility they needed to accomplish testing amid a continuing pandemic. That is what we’ve done. We have not asked to cancel testing; we’ve asked for flexible options that will work for our schools and students. 

“Reporting by a few sources that our waiver was denied is simply inaccurate.”