ESSA’s Evidence-Based Provision for School Interventions, Explained
July 20, 2016
Chiefs for Change released a paper, “ESSA and Evidence: Why It Matters,” this week, which provides insight into ESSA’s evidence-based provision for school interventions. It argues that accountability programs strong track records are better alternatives to maintaining old or non-vetted models. According to Chiefs for Change, not following ESSA’s recommendations “would be a serious mistake on educational, fiscal, moral, and political grounds.” The ESSA recommendations lay out four tiers of “methodological rigor” for selecting a district intervention (listed in descending levels of objectivity): Strong Evidence, Moderate Evidence, Promising Evidence, and Strong Theory. The paper concludes that these tiers will help shift intervention practices from old, non-proven practices to evidence-based, methodological solutions.