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June 23, 2022

Dear John,

Efforts to move away from or limit the annual testing of K-12 students gained new energy amid the vast disruptions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Skeptics argue that testing is burdensome for teachers and students, and that the results yield little information or that they are used inappropriately in high-stakes decisions. Yet such assessments have long served as a lever for equity in K-12 education, not least for the nation's 5 million English Learners (ELs).

A new commentary from MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy argues that while states should continue to take steps to improve the quality and validity of their tests, watering down assessments or dismissing them altogether may contribute to overlooking ELs and other students and misdirecting resources and support services away from where they may be most needed.

"State assessment data, which are the only academic data that are widely available to community stakeholders and policymakers, will be critical to determining whether ELs are on the right trajectory to recover from the effects of the pandemic and remote learning," writes Melissa Lazarin. "Not long ago ELs were invisible in this data, and therefore often overlooked altogether. The pandemic has underscored that, together with certain nonacademic data, state assessment data serve as a powerful tool to drive equity for ELs."

You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/state-assessments-driver-equity-english-learners.

And for more MPI work on English Learners, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/nciip-english-learners-and-every-student-succeeds-act-essa.

Best regards,

Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs,
Migration Policy Institute

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. For more on MPI, please visit www.migrationpolicy.org.
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