Update: In a letter, the Dept. of Education told Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that it "provided students and their families with a high level of transparency" in the controversial national civics contest.
The letter, dated Sept. 1, was in response to Murphy's demands for "transparency" from DOE on behalf of Aangad Singh, a contestant whose family questioned the scoring of the competition.
DOE's response mostly reiterated public statements in support of its process and judges.
"One of the clear rules was that the judges’ decisions on student scoring were final judgments that could not be challenged."
The letter did not directly answer Murphy's questions or provide a detailed explanation of why Singh's two disputed answers were scored as incorrect.
Aangad's father Bhalindar sent me a statement:
"We are disappointed that the Department’s response does not substantively address the specific questions and scoring concerns raised by Senator Murphy’s office. Instead, the response largely reiterates the competition process and the finality of the judges’ decisions, while appearing to seek closure of the matter without addressing the underlying issues that prompted the Senator’s inquiry."
DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The next steps are unclear.