Conn., feds allow Newtown students to skip tests

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut and federal education officials are allowing Newtown students to skip standardized testing because of the school shootings that killed 20 first-graders and six educators in December.

The state Board of Education and state lawmakers voted Wednesday to approve measures allowing Newtown children in grades 3 through 8 to skip the Connecticut Mastery Tests that are being administered statewide this month.

Newtown officials had requested the unprecedented, one-time waiver, citing the trauma suffered by students and staff from the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

State officials say the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday granted Newtown a one-year waiver of federal student assessment requirements.

State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor says the waiver is a way to provide some relief from the tragedy.