LAUSD teachers, students, and families are nearing the end of a momentous school year.  We have weathered months of online instruction, despite a host of technological, physical and emotional challenges.  With the recent announcement to reopen schools, we scramble to orient ourselves to changes in schedules, living situations and work environments.  In this disorienting context, we are also faced with the looming prospect of navigating high stakes standardized testing, otherwise knows as the SBAC.

In December, California Teachers Association acknowledged the absurdity of high-stakes testing during a pandemic and called on the State Board of Education to request a federal waiver to opt out of the SBAC.  Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education notified California  that "the state’s request for relief from certain federal testing, accountability, and reporting requirements has been granted."

The ball is now decisively in LAUSD's court.  The federal government has given you the power to cancel SBAC this year.  We, the undersigned, call on you to use this power to immediately cancel the SBAC for the 2020-2021 school year, and to inform the public of this decision.

Teachers and students deserve to end the school year with a feeling of pride in how we have grown and a sense of hope about the future.  This school year is proof that some of the most valuable learning can't be measured with a standardized test.