Schulman questions DOE on assessment requirements and paper alternatives

Okay.

How many assessments are required by DOE each year?

So in the New York City public schools, outside of the New York State assessments, we ask our schools to administer a screener assessment three times a year.

Pretty much, I would say,

October, January, May, so, you know, beginning, middle, end of the year.

Our schools have opted into, and typically by district, they're using one of two academic screeners in both ELA and math.

There is a...

A citywide screener for literacy in K-2 that all schools are using.

And that is what we are looking at centrally.

And then schools take the curricular choices that they have and they decide which assessments that are within the curricular programs or otherwise that they find valuable.

And at the school level, that could look different.

But at the central level, those are our assessments.

Are schools required to use screen-based assessments or are paper options available?

For the screeners, our screeners are online and they are part of the exemption in our policy.

We have some of our core curriculum that has digital assessments.

We are asked.

asking our schools to transition away from digital assessments to the paper versions of these tests.

But some of the current, like the end of a module assessment, might be digital only right now.

And so that is part of that grace that we're giving in the implementation of this policy and where we might need to make adjustments going forward.

Do parents, caregivers have the right to opt out of screen-based assessments?

So we do not have an opt-out policy for what our valued assessments and core curriculum choices are in our schools.

That is the core part of the instructional program.

So at this time, there is no option to opt out of those tests, those assessments.