A Political Spectacle: A Policy Analysis of States’ Responses to Federal Assessment Waivers During the Coronavirus (COVID) Pandemic

In 2020–2021, during the COVID pandemic, the federal government offered states the opportunity to request waivers from federally mandated standardized testing accountability protocols. For this study, we examined the contents of requests submitted by educational leaders from 12 states and the subsequent responses provided by federal government leaders. We applied concepts of framing and frame articulation, political spectacle, and policy paradox to examine how state and federal leaders positioned their views of the role and purpose of statewide accountability systems. Using a mixed-methods design, we found that state and federal leaders stridently disagreed about the role of standardized tests during COVID, with each leveraging frames of civil rights and moral imperatives to justify keeping the test (federal leaders) versus abandoning it (state leaders). Of the 12 waivers submitted, eight were denied, three were considered not needed, and one was granted.