What Changes PA Students Can Expect with ESSA Implementation
August 22, 2016
Students in Central Pennsylvania “won’t see much difference in their day-to-day activities under” ESSA but “significant changes are coming,” area officials are warning. Some changes will be evident during next Spring’s testing period but most will come about the year after. One superintendent said that the state “has recognized that going to college is not the only valid way to measure student preparedness.” Another superintendent noted that the shift from “one single high-stakes test … is a benefit for all students and schools.” While ESSA is still a “work in progress,” the state’s 80-member working group and the statewide educational community are “transitioning away from compliance, toward support.”