News Release

Education stakeholders do not reach consensus on administration of CMAS math, English language arts tests for this spring

Group supports PSAT, SAT tests for high school students 

DENVER – The final report by the COVID-19 Policy Implications Stakeholder Group released today recommends some statewide assessments should continue as planned this spring while others should not occur. No decision was reached on whether the Colorado Measures of Academic Success tests in mathematics and English language arts should be administered to the state’s third through eighth graders.

The Colorado General Assembly last spring called for the creation of a stakeholder group of Colorado education leaders to advise policymakers on what, if any, changes should be made to state law around testing and accountability because of the COVID-19 crisis. Final decisions are up to the legislature since these matters are tied to state law. 

On assessments, the group said schools should administer the PSAT and SAT to the extent that local health orders allow and that CMAS tests in science and social studies should be canceled in the spring. The group did not reach a consensus agreement on administering the CMAS mathematics and English language arts tests to third through eighth graders for a range of conflicting reasons. Some stakeholders wanted to administer the tests to be able to measure student learning loss and others did not want the tests to be conducted out of concern over the misinterpretation of the results within the context of COVID-19.