Conn., feds allow Newtown students to skip tests
Mar 7, 2013, 1:48 PM
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut and federal education officials are allowing Newtown students to skip standardized testing because of the school shootings that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in December.
The state Board of Education and state lawmakers voted Wednesday to approve measures allowing Newtown children in grades 3 through 8 to skip the Connecticut Mastery Tests that are being administered statewide this month.
Newtown officials had requested the unprecedented, one-time waiver, citing the trauma suffered by students and staff from the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
State officials say the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday granted Newtown a one-year waiver of federal student assessment requirements.
State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor says the waiver is a way to provide some relief from the tragedy.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
