COMMENTARY

matical skills.

Now, I agree there’s a clear downside to routinely advancing kids who aren’t ready. If you do it too much, a diploma loses all meaning.

But Vallas took things to an extreme. He punished students if they tested below their grade level, turning standardized tests into something they’re not intended to be: gatekeepers.

They’re not supposed to be pass-or-fail struggles for survival. They’re supposed to be barometers for teachers and parents to figure out what a student needs help with.

But under Vallas, if students weren’t at grade level, they had to go to summer school, where they took classes on how to take the test.