A number of states had asked the Biden Education Department to do the same thing, saying it would be difficult to impossible to administer the exams when millions of students still are not in classrooms. But more than a week before Miguel Cardona was confirmed March 1 by the Senate as education secretary, the department issued its decision on testing.
The department said it would talk with each state about their testing programs and said there was room for more flexibility, but it did not say what that could be. Some states have decided to postpone the tests until fall.
