The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that schools will still be required to administer standardized tests for the 2020-2021 school year despite months of upheaval in which many students failed to step foot inside a school building.

The decision was made without the leadership of Miguel Cardona , President Joe Biden s nominee for education secretary, according to an Education Department spokesperson. Cardona has not yet been confirmed, leaving senior department leadership, including Acting Secretary of Education Phil Rosenfelt, to make a call amid urgent questions from states about whether to plan for exams.

While testing will go on, the Biden administration is offering significant flexibility to states in how to administer the exams. Schools will be able to provide tests remotely, they will be able to give the tests in summer or fall, or make the tests shorter. The department is also inviting states to apply for waivers that would free them of some of the accountability provisions tied to testing, including one that requires 95% participation. No student should be brought into school just to take a test if theyre not able to do so safely, the department told states chief school officers.

The decision to continue testing is designed to give schools more tools to assess how their students have been faring during a year when education has been transformed. The Education Department is encouraging schools not to tie the scores to grades or grade retention but to use them to shed light on how different groups of students are performing and to provide targeted support to help get students up to speed.

Some states will begin administering tests as early as March. The department was rushed to make a decision on the issue, a spokesperson said, as planning for assessments often starts months prior. Before the Education Departments decision, nearly 30 states had already submitted waivers related to testing accountability measures or assessments in general, and the Biden administration faced pressure to provide them with a response.

In March 2020 , the Education Department under President Donald Trump allowed states to cancel standardized testing for the year as school shutdowns began. In September, before Biden was elected president, then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told states to expect standardized tests this year.