CA should “stay the course” on ESSA plan
March 12, 2018
Learning Policy Institute President Linda Darling-Hammond writes that “mixed messages” from the federal Education Department “are enough to give a state whiplash.” While Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says states missed out on opportunities for “flexibility and innovation” under ESSA, she also hasn’t approved California’s plan, “one of the most innovative in the nation,” and praises California “for its system of local control” while her Department “refuses to let the state exercise it.” The California State Board of Education “appears to have found a way to thread the needle, delivering a revised ESSA plan designed to satisfy the U.S. Department of Education while preserving the essence of the California’s innovative new accountability and continuous improvement system.”