Department of Education Staffer Supports Students Skipping Tests

Although she's an avid protester of test taking, her new role for DOE comes with a six-figure salary.

Recently promoted Lisa Nielsen, 44, has been publicly offering advice to parents that they should forget standardized tests and allow their children to do other activities. The new “director of digital literacy and citizenship” is an administrator of the Facebook group Opt Out of State Standardized Tests—New York. On Friday, she recommended that teachers assign students who opt out to other activities, including reading, writing, and drawing or even just let them sleep. “The test might just be a perfect time to catch some zzz,” she wrote on her blog “The Innovative Educator: Way Out of the Box!” She also urges people to sign a petition to Governor Cuomo to “End High Stakes Testing” in the state.

According to the Department of Education job description, her recent promotion came with a salary of up to $170,000. The DOE would not say whether it had been aware of her views when they named her to the new role. (New York Post)

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