Diana Hess, dean of the UW-Madison School of Education and a professor of curriculum and instruction, said she wasn’t aware of any comprehensive surveying or research on the issue. “Generally, I am hearing that there was a lot of flexibility throughout the year — not necessarily standards lowering, but more options for students to meet standards in various ways,” she said. Michael Apple, also a UW-Madison professor of curriculum and instruction, agreed with that assessment, adding that “even with some districts having supposedly moved to ‘loosen standards,’ the reasons for doing this are often quite diverse depending on the political pressures from conservative and or progressive movements.”
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