Pandemic postpones national math, reading tests until 2022

(AP) – Federal officials say national reading and math tests used to track what U.S. students know are being postponed from next year to 2022 over concerns about whether such testing would be feasible or produce valid results amid the pandemic.

The biennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests used for the Nation’s Report Card were slated early next year for hundreds of thousands of the country’s fourth and eighth graders.

Officials say pushing that testing to 2022 is more likely to produce statistically valid and valuable data.

But that delays results that could show how the pandemic is impacting learning. It also could influence debate over whether states’ annual tests proceed.