News
Schools Across the Nation Boost Outreach Efforts to High Schoolers At Risk of Not Graduating
May 11, 2021
Soaring numbers of high school students are failing classes or are considered “chronically absent” this school year, leading to a nationwide push by educators to track down and engage older students they fear might not reach graduation after a year disrupted by the pandemic. A...
Advocates Underscore a National Focus on Data in Education
May 10, 2021
“The data moment has arrived,” says Data Quality Campaign President and CEO Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger in a piece for the 74 Million. Citing the prioritization of data collection and use throughout a number of Executive Orders and strategies employed by President Joe Biden, Bell-Ellwanger says, “it’s...
Blog Series Explores Evolving Issue of State School Accountability
April 12, 2021
The Education Commission of the States published the final piece in a 3-part series on school accountability, exploring how rapidly state accountability systems had to adapt to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the abrupt halt of data collection systems typically used to inform...
ArtScan Policy Tracker Updated for 2021
April 12, 2021
The Arts Education Partnership is out with an update to its ArtScan policy database and one-pager, which was developed in coordination with the Education Commission of the States. The 2021 updates feature coverage of new arts education policies and initiatives in states like Florida, where...
New Report Highlights Disparities in Use of School Resource Officers, Recommends Changes
April 9, 2021
A new report from the Southern University Law Center is examining and recommending changes to policies around school discipline and, particularly, the utilization of school resource officers (SROs). Elizabeth Crain, the author of the report, argues that young students of color are disproportionately punished by...
Javurek: ESSA’s Innovative Assessment Program Right in Principle, Lacking in Implementation
April 6, 2021
Abby Javurek, a vice president at prominent national nonprofit assessment provider NWEA, takes a look at ESSA’s Innovative Assessment provisions in a new piece in the 74 Million. She argues that the pilot program was on the right path in principle but was not implemented...
Brookings Fellow Says Most Improvement Lies in How Testing Data is Used
March 30, 2021
Andre Perry of the Brookings Institution lays out a compelling argument in the national debate on testing in a new piece, suggesting that the shortcomings many see with standardized tests are often rooted in how data is used, rather than with the tests themselves. Perry...
Policy Blog Series Reflects on 5 Years of ESSA
March 29, 2021
The EdNote education policy blog has launched a new series reflecting on school accountability systems. The series comes more than five years after passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which required states to design data-driven accountability plans meant to help improve school quality and...
State Funding ‘Decision Tree’ Can Help Policymakers Design Funding Formulas
March 28, 2021
The Edunomics Lab has published a new resource designed to guide policymakers through key decisions during the creation of a state’s education funding formula. The decision tree includes considerations for establishing or adjusting funding allocations, navigating accountability measures, effectively using data and tools, and more....
Washington Post Explores How Pandemic Uprooted American Education
March 15, 2021
From an overnight reliance on remote learning and a national focus on learning loss to an urgent accounting of school building infrastructure and access to mental health services, the Washington Post team recounts the many ways in which COVID-19 uprooted schooling in a piece marking...
A Resource for Parents on Using Student Testing Data
March 11, 2021
EdNavigator, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing student access to opportunities from preschool through college and beyond, recently published a comprehensive and compelling discussion on student assessments specifically geared for parents. The piece, titled What Parents Need to Know About Tests, explores misconceptions about the...
Harvard Professor Proposes Plan for Using Student Assessment Data This School Year
March 2, 2021
In light of the Education Department’s decision to refrain from issuing a second year of waivers of federally required statewide student assessments this school year, states are rapidly shifting their conversations to focus on how best to collect, present, and use resulting data on student...
How States Fund Mental Health Programming and Supports in Schools
March 2, 2021
A new policy brief from the Education Commission of the States explores the most common funding sources that states use to provide mental health services and supports in schools. In addition to dedicated federal funding provided through the Every Student Succeeds Act, which nearly every...
Experts Caution States Considering Holding District Budgets Harmless
February 26, 2021
A new brief from the Edunomics Lab cautions states as an increasing number consider holding district education budgets harmless for shifts in student enrollment, which typically determine state funding allocations. While authors Hannah Jarmolowski and Marguerite Roza say such actions can be a helpful band-aid...
Dallas Assistant Superintendent: Career and Technical Education Can Be Tool for Equity
February 17, 2021
Though all students have lost ground due to school closures amid the pandemic, Dallas Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova says “there are bright spots illuminating a path to success for our high school students: giving them a genuine purpose for learning in high-quality career-technical education (CTE)...
Schools Find Proactive Ways to Remain IDEA Compliant During Pandemic
February 10, 2021
For many schools, ensuring that students who receive special education resources were able to continue receiving services during the pandemic proved to be one of the most difficult challenges resulting from school closures – one that has carried an uptick in “due process” litigation cases...
Henig: ‘Data’ Doesn’t Have to be a Dirty Word in Education
February 9, 2021
In a recent piece in Education Week, Columbia University political science and education professor Jeffrey Henig urges the administration of President Joe Biden to commit earnestly to building a “community-friendly national culture of data generation, dissemination, and use.” Henig adds, “A reimagined system of data...
Conservative Education Leaders Lay Out Vision for Assessments Through COVID-19
January 29, 2021
The pandemic poses a number of obvious and well-discussed challenges to testing but, according to the Fordham Institute’s Michael Petrilli and the American Enterprise Institute’s Frederick Hess, it also presents “even bigger opportunities.” Petrilli and Hess take to an opinion piece in the Hill to...
States Move Forward with Focus on Data to Guide Pandemic Recovery, While Some Seek Waivers
January 29, 2021
New York and Michigan added their names to the list of states again requesting a waiver of annual assessments required by ESSA, citing continued disruption imposed by the pandemic. While the states join a few others in asking for the tests to be called off,...
Rep. Bobby Scott Discusses Assessments, ESSA in Education Interview
December 29, 2020
In an interview with Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House education committee, reiterated his firm support for administering annual state assessments amid the pandemic. “If we don’t know how far behind these students are, we won’t know how much...
Special Education Advocates Hopeful for Biden Administration
December 9, 2020
As the first presidential candidate in decades to include full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as a campaign goal, President-elect Joe Biden has promised to make an effort to deliver billions of dollars of additional federal funding to special education programs...
New Research Shows Weaknesses in State School Improvement Networks
December 4, 2020
A new study from the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University found that state school improvement networks frequently struggle to “scale up” successful policies or programs from the school to district or state levels. As outlined by ESSA, networks of schools established...
Improving School Mental Health and Wellness Efforts Through Arts Education
November 24, 2020
Arts education can be leveraged by schools to deepen mental health and wellness resources for students, says the Education Commission of the States, which in a time of great disruption in education, should include trauma-informed approaches to instruction and student and family outreach. State, district,...
The Career and Legacy of Senator Lamar Alexander
November 16, 2020
In this in-depth profile, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Chester E Finn, Jr. captures the life and service of three-term, retiring Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Detailing his time as the Chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, or HELP, Committee, Finn states...
Five Years After ESSA Was Signed, COVID-19 Applies Pressure Test to the Law
November 16, 2020
Five years after it was signed into law, the Every Student Succeeds Act is being challenged by the unanticipated disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Andrew Ujifusa for Education Week. At greatest risk, he says, are the assessment and accountability systems required of individual states;...
Education Reporters Cover Questions Around Assessments, Accountability Amid COVID-19
October 24, 2020
As conversations around the 2020-21 assessment period and the direction of accountability systems more generally become an increasingly fraught topic by district and state school leaders, EWA posted an overview of the topic geared toward education reporters. Specifically, the piece highlights ongoing back-and-forths between a...
Missing or Inconsistent Arts Education Revealing Importance to Overall Student Achievement
October 18, 2020
Nothing in education has been untouched by the coronavirus pandemic, says a growing number of arts educators calling attention to the effects of limited or completely canceled arts classes on student achievement, morale, and wellness. Jamie Kasper, director of the Arts Education Partnership, cited over...
Department of Ed Reminds Schools of Requirements for Students with Disabilities
October 5, 2020
Responding to growing confusion around the provision of special education services after a chaotic back-to-school season, the federal Department of Education released several Q&A-styled documents to offer guidance to states and districts still determining their plans for special education. This follows the Department’s declination to...
Science and Discovery Labs Rethink Programming and School Supports
September 28, 2020
When the STEM Technology Lab at the University of New Hampshire was forced due to the spread of the coronavirus, Director Sarah Grosvenor immediately began rethinking how the lab could continue supporting science and technology programs at middle and high schools in the region, as...
Georgia DOE Tweaks Assessment Strategy for 2020-21 After Denied Waiver Request
September 24, 2020
In response to the decision by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to not grant additional testing waivers to states for the 2020-21 school year, Georgia State Superintendent Richard Woods announced how the state will rethink their approach to administering assessments in the winter and spring. Citing...
22 Ed-Tech Products Receive Certification of Approval from Digital Promise
August 10, 2020
Digital Promise has announced that 22 education products meet the requirements for the organization’s “Research-Based Design Product Certification,” which is intended to “give educators and parents assurance” that intervention products are research-based. The certification builds on the Every Student Succeeds Act’s Tier IV label for...
A Reporter’s Investigation into Bureau of Indian Education Schools Finds Accountability Failures
August 10, 2020
According to coverage by AZ Central and ProPublica’s Alden Woods, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) “failed to comply” with several reporting and accountability requirements outlined in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Specifically, Woods says, the BIE is the “only education system in the...
Next Stimulus Might Bring Changes to Federal Education Aid
July 30, 2020
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Michael Petrilli, in examining the developing conversation around additional K-12 stimulus funding for schools, argues that any federal investment should be distributed in a way that directly provides services to kids “most at risk of falling even further behind.” To...
) Will the Pandemic Encourage Flexibility and Creativity? This Supt. Thinks So
July 26, 2020
Former 2018 Superintendent of the Year Dr. David Schuler argues that teaching students life skills like “creativity, flexibility and resilience” is more important than ever amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing the intent of the Every Student Succeeds Act to allow districts...
School-level Spending Data Available in Most States
July 24, 2020
A “key tucked in the Every Student Succeeds Act” has resulted in a massive “trove” of school-level spending data, reports Daarel Burnette for Education Week. So far, 42 states and the District of Columbia have complied with the ESSA requirement to make public per-pupil expenditure...
New Analysis Suggests That Districts Should Be Held Accountable For Student Learning Too
July 13, 2020
Chad Aldeman of Bellwether Education Partners and Anne Hyslop of the Alliance for Excellent Education ask questions about the focus of accountability measures during and after the COVID-10 pandemic. If districts were, in most places, the entities setting up food distributions, purchasing Chromebooks, making decisions...
Tracking Attendance Remotely Presents Challenges
July 13, 2020
Researchers and advocates are calling on districts to implement better attendance tracking systems for the upcoming school year. While they note that though “it wasn’t realistic to expect districts to develop and implement perfect attendance systems immediately after the pandemic hit,” such data will be...
Five Existing Policies Officials May Lean On to Face Looming Budget Cuts
June 16, 2020
Celina Morgan-Standard, founder and CEO of the Technology for Education Consortium, and David DeSchryver, Director of Research at Whiteboard Advisors, take to EdSurge to discuss some ways in which school leaders and policymakers might begin facing the very expensive reality of reopening schools following COVID-19....
More Than 50 Organizations Unite to Advocate for Arts Education
June 3, 2020
A group of more than 50 arts and education organizations released a statement, “Arts Education Is Essential,” underscoring the role that the arts have played—both during the ongoing health crisis as well as its importance in general for all students, “including those who are in...
DeVos Under Fire for Federal Coronavirus Relief Guidance
June 3, 2020
An impassioned op-ed in Newsweek criticizes Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for directing “public schools to share with private and religious schools more of the funding available to them through the CARES Act.” Under the Secretary’s guidance, these federal funds should be allocated according to the...
Coalition Pushes Congress to Ease Special Education Funding Mandate in Light of Pandemic
May 27, 2020
A coalition of education organizations is pushing Congress “to waive a provision in federal law that requires school districts to maintain consistent funding levels for special education from year to year.” The “maintenance of effort” provision, part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, is...
For Schools Receiving COVID-19 Relief Funds, Flexibility is Key
May 22, 2020
In a piece published by the Brookings Instition, Sarah Reber and Nora Gordon argue for as much flexibility as possible for states to allocate COVID-19 relief funding for K-12 schools. The authors assert that sending “most federal aid to states and school districts through a...
ESSA Author Senator Alexander Splits from DeVos on COVID-19 Relief for Private Schools
May 21, 2020
Senator Lamar Alexander—the chairman of the U.S. Senate Education Committee and co-author of the Every Student Succeeds Act—“has a different interpretation than the head of the U.S. Department of Education of how much federal coronavirus aid should be available to private school students.” In her...
Lawmakers Mount Fierce Opposition to DeVos’s COVID-19 Relief Guidance
May 20, 2020
Democratic lawmakers in Congress did not hold back in expressing their opposition to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s guidance about federal COVID-19 relief for K-12 schools, calling it “way out of bounds” and urging her to abandon it. In a letter sent to DeVos,...
House Democrats Release New COVID-19 Relief Proposal Allocating $60 billion to Schools
May 12, 2020
Legislation introduced by House Democrats “would provide nearly $60 billion to K-12 school districts to help them address the coronavirus pandemic,” according to Education Week. The total “falls short of public demands from education advocacy groups,” yet will likely not make it past the Republican-controlled...
The Way We Evaluate Student Progress Will Need to Change in Post-Pandemic World
May 7, 2020
An editorial in the Richmond Times-Dispatch outlines a problem educators nationwide are grappling with: how to most effectively measure student progress in a post-pandemic world. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, all 50 states have asked the U.S. Department of Education to waive standardized...
Education Groups Push Congress for New Federal Aid for K-12 Schools
May 5, 2020
Recently, “dozens of groups sent a new request to Congress” that calls for “at least $250 billion in new federal aid for K-12 schools and higher education as part of a broader push to shore up state and local government funding.” The request also urges Congress to...
What Information Must Schools, States Provide About How They Used CARES Act Funds?
April 26, 2020
A recent blog post outlines the information that states and districts receiving emergency coronavirus relief funding must report. Within 60 days of receiving funding, state education departments must “tell the U.S. Department of Education their budgets for their ‘reserve’ of the money,” including “dollar-by-dollar details...
School-Level Spending Data Reveals Districts’ Role in Allocating Education Funds
April 23, 2020
A “sleeper provision” in ESSA “requiring states to publish annually on their report cards the per-student spending data for every public school in their borders” is “finally bearing fruit,” according to an article in Education Next. “As of March 2020, more than half of the...
How States Can Leverage ESSA to Help Students in Need During the Coronavirus Pandemic
April 23, 2020
As Andrew Ujifusa writes for Education Week, there are more ways for states to take advantage of ESSA than just the waivers provided by the Department of Education. According to the Center on Reinventing Public Education, there are “millions of dollars states can use outside...
Coronavirus Poses New Challenges for Already Imperiled Statewide Standardized Assessments
April 21, 2020
A piece by Education Next takes a deeper dive into the recent FutureEd study examining opposition to statewide standardized testing. This opposition has made for strange bedfellows as “teachers’ unions and their progressive allies” opposed to test-based consequences for schools and teachers find themselves on...
What Does Taking Attendance Mean in the Wake of Coronavirus School Closures?
April 17, 2020
A recent piece in Education Week highlights the various ways in which different states, districts, and schools are monitoring and tracking attendance in light of nationwide school closures due to the coronavirus. While “the federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to report chronic absence...
Aurora Institute Calls for Major Changes to K-12 Education
April 9, 2020
Last week, the Aurora Institute released “its broad-based education policy agenda” in two documents—one focusing on state policy actions and another outlining federal policy priorities to accelerate education innovation. The agenda includes “a set of 15 recommendations to make the nation’s education system fit for...
COVID-19 to Have a Multi-Year Impact on School Accountability Systems
April 7, 2020
According to Chris Domaleski at the Center for Assessment, the disruption to ESSA school accountability systems is likely to reach well beyond 2021. Given the fact that many “state ESSA accountability systems rely on a bundle of multi-year data,” returning to the status quo quickly...
Transparency Needed as Funding from CARES Act Reaches States, Districts
April 1, 2020
Collaborative for Student Success Executive Director Jim Cowen explains the need for transparency for funds provided by the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in this piece published by Forbes. While flexibility for state leaders is essential, Cowen argues that “the...
Postsecondary and College Enrollment Data Reporting Varies Greatly State to State
March 30, 2020
Education Dive takes a closer look at which states are reporting college enrollment data and how they are reporting it. Under ESSA, states are encouraged to report college enrollment rates as one area of student performance. According to guidance provided by the Department of Education...
Bureau of Indian Education Publishes Standards, Assessments and Accountability System Rule
March 30, 2020
The Bureau of Indian Education recently published its Standards, Assessment and Accountability System Final rule under the Every Student Succeeds Act, according to the Cherokee Phoenix. The SAAS rule will “provide the BIE with the ability to operate under a unified assessment system intended to...
Spring Testing Canceled, Postponed, or Suspended Nationwide
March 27, 2020
Tens of thousands of schools across the country have closed in response to the spread of coronavirus, throwing state assessments into disarray. After initially considering “targeted” waivers of federal testing requirements, the Department of Education “shifted to a broader approach that will let most states...
Chan Zuckerberg Provides $1.3 Million in Grants to Help Students During Coronavirus Closures
March 27, 2020
According to Education Week, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative “has provided a combined $1.3 million in grants” to support online teaching efforts, organizations navigating “complicated policy questions,” and parents impacted by coronavirus-related school closures. The International Society for Education Testing and the State Educational Technology Directors...
Federal Aid for Public Schools Falls Short of Education Groups’ Requests
March 27, 2020
The $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic aid package signed by President Trump last week commits “$31 billion in dedicated emergency funding for K-12 and higher education,” with $13.5 billion for public school budgets. Already, education groups are “anticipating and discussing the need for another round of...
Annual Testing for Homeschooled Students Not Impacted by ESSA Testing Waivers
March 24, 2020
The Trump administration’s waiving of federally required testing normally required under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) does not apply to homeschooling families, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). While schools will not need to adhere to ESSA’s federal testing requirements in...
Trump Administration Waives ESSA Testing Requirements, Eases Student Loan Payments
March 20, 2020
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump Administration “moved to waive federal requirements for standardized tests for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and gave borrowers with student loans the option of suspending payments.” Those with federal student loan debt can request a postponement...
Using Regression-Adjusted Graduation Rates to Benchmark Demographically Similar Schools
March 19, 2020
In EducationNext, Erica Blom and Theresa Anderson make a case for the use of regression-adjusted graduation rates to compare schools “against other schools with similar demographics, allowing for fairer comparisons.” This, they argue, “allows the performance of entire schools to be meaningfully compared without having...
Chronic Absenteeism Due to Coronavirus Impacts Accountability, Equity in Education
March 17, 2020
As Phyllis W. Jordan writes for FutureEd, the spread of coronavirus and the need for social distancing is posing serious challenges for states that use chronic absenteeism as a factor for determining school performance and accountability. “Currently, 36 states and the District of Columbia use...
What COVID-19 Means for School Closures, Testing, and Accountability Efforts
March 13, 2020
As Jim Cowen writes for Forbes, the wave of school closures has rightly sparked a discussion about the “issues of providing meals and other educational services to America’s school children.” In addition, these closures increase the likelihood that “many students will be out of school...
COVID-19 Creates Roadblock for School Districts’ Efforts to Curb Absenteeism
March 12, 2020
As reported by Education Week, COVID-19 could have a significant impact on “chronic absenteeism rates that will be publicly reported and, for many schools, used in their states’ accountability systems that determine how well they performed.” Under ESSA, states have been pushed to look “beyond traditional...
ESSA’s School-Level Student Spending Data Requirement Enhances Equitable Education Efforts
March 11, 2020
Collaborative for Student Success Executive Director Jim Cowen penned an op-ed for Forbes highlighting the significant impact school-level, per-pupil spending will have on education finance. While states have reported how much money a school district spends per student for decades, a provision in ESSA is...
How Implementing Universal Design for Learning Principles can Help English Language Learners
March 9, 2020
As Katie Novak writes for Language Magazine, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can help English language learners have a richer, more transformative experience in the classroom. ESSA “urges states to adopt UDL in a number of areas,” including using UDL principles to design assessments...
Education Groups Call for Key Changes to Innovative Assessment Program in Comments to DoE
March 6, 2020
As reported in EdWeek Market Brief, the Department of Education received a wide range of feedback on a proposal that would expand access to a grant program that helps more states develop and implement their own innovative assessment programs, established by ESSA as “a way...
How States and Districts Can Use ESSA to Advance STEAM Education
March 4, 2020
The Education Commission of the States released an outline providing states and districts with a broad overview of how they can leverage funds from ESSA and Perkins V to support their STEAM education efforts. According to the report, ESSA section 4107 3-c-vi permits local education...
States Should Support and Address Low-Performing Schools Before They Hit Rock Bottom
March 4, 2020
ESSA was signed into law four years ago, “giving states more flexibility in their approaches to accountability,” yet for the lowest-performing schools, “policy leaders still operate from an old and harmful paradigm,” according to Susan F. Lusi in a piece published by The 74. Instead...
Expanding MSI Helps Provide Equal Support for All Military-Connected Students
March 2, 2020
Expansion of the Military Student Identifier (MSI) to include children of Reserve and National Guard members in addition to active duty service members will help military families “manage educational obstacles,” according to Collaborative for Student Success Executive Director Jim Cowen. ESSA mandated states and districts...
How States are Evolving their Approaches to Testing Under ESSA
February 24, 2020
According to Chris Minnich, it’s time for state accountability assessments to evolve. Since passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Minnich notes, testing has increased steadily in K-12. However, due to the timing of most assessments, there is not enough time for parents and educators...
Trump Administration’s Budget Proposal Comes Under Fire by Education Unions
February 20, 2020
President Trump’s 2021 budget proposal is receiving harsh criticism from education unions, including the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. While it is “more than likely to be rejected by Congress,” the proposed budget seeks a number of cuts and changes in...
President Trump’s Proposed 2021 Budget Would Overhaul ESSA Programs
February 11, 2020
As Naaz Modan reports for Education Dive, President Trump’s draft budget proposal for 2021 would “cut key K-12 programs while funding private school scholarships.” Overall, the President’s budget proposal would provide the Department of Education with a $66.6 billion in funding in 2021, “7.8% or...
Budget Proposal Would Cut Education Spending, Condense 29 Programs into a Block Grant
February 11, 2020
According to Education Week, the proposed budget released by the Trump Administration would call for the U.S. Department of Education to create a new block grant “consisting of 29 current programs called ‘Elementary and secondary Education for the Disadvantaged Block Grant.” At a proposed $19.4...
Release of School Spending Data Sparks Heated Debates on Funding, Accessibility, and More
February 11, 2020
A key goal of ESSA is to “spark a richer dialogue between parents, administrators and school board members.” Now, as more states continue to release school spending data, concerns are being raised in communities across the country about the “accessibility and accuracy of the data,...
Senator Lamar Alexander’s Take on Impeachment Reflects His Approach to ESSA
January 31, 2020
An Education Week blog post draws parallels between Senator Lamar Alexander’s “handling of the impeachment inquiry and his recent approach to education policy,” including as a key architect of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). During the former, the Senator struck a middle ground—arguing that...
Proposed Study Could Have Significant Impact on Educational Equity—One Way or Another
January 17, 2020
Late last year, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) “made an under-the-radar announcement that it was seeking comments on a new study of over $30 billion in federal education spending,” according to a recent article in Forbes. While it could “provide valuable information for researchers, advocates, and...
Personalized Learning Platform Meets ESSA Tier 2 Requirements, According to Study
January 14, 2020
A new research study recently released reveals that IXL Learning, “the K-12 personalized learning platform used by more than 8 million students…helps students achieve greater learning gains in both math and reading.” The study’s evaluation shows the program “meets the required rigor” of the “Every...
Questions Arise About Efficacy of Surveys to Assess School Quality
January 13, 2020
According to this piece in The 74, school climate and student engagement surveys are becoming more popular in helping learn more about “important contributors to student success”—including “students’ sense of belonging at school and their sense of themselves as learners…bullying among students, relationships with teachers...
Who Should Decide Attendance Policies—States or Districts?
January 9, 2020
According to Education Dive, a new bill in the Wyoming Legislature reflects a larger question for school districts grappling to address attendance and absenteeism issues. If passed, it would allow districts to set their own policies regarding excused and unexcused absences and to decide how...
Inconsistent English-Learner Data Collection Poses Challenges for Educators, Policymakers
January 8, 2020
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) included several requirements to provide greater equity for English language learners. However, according to Education Week, “in at least 28 states, more than 1 in 5 districts have no information reported for the past three years of available [English-learner]...
In 2020, Look Out for Continued Innovations in Assessment Models Nationwide
January 6, 2020
According to Education Dive, “continued innovations and shifts in assessment” could be one of the top-five K-12 trends to watch out for in 2020. Following a year marked by “investment by states and districts in the additional decision-making freedom” enabled by ESSA, we can expect...
A Shift on School Accountability Could Be an Issue to Watch in 2020
December 28, 2019
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states have been given “an opportunity to make some of their own choices about how to hold teachers and schools accountable for performance.” With many of the new plans just starting to take effect, the future of these varying...
Under ESSA, Technology is Transforming Educational Experiences and Outcomes
December 11, 2019
An article in JD Supra highlights the myriad ways in which states are leveraging technology to transform the classroom experience. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, “states are implementing various programs that use education technology to boost traditional classroom learning.” This includes blended learning—something “ESSA...
On Four-Year Anniversary, Education Officials Tell Congress ESSA is Working
December 10, 2019
As reported in Education Week, in a letter to Congress, “a group of state and local education officials, teachers’ unions, and others” report the significant progress they are making under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” noting that the law “could lead to significant advances in...
For Better or Worse, ESSA Puts Education Policy in the Hands of the States
December 9, 2019
The Every Student Succeeds Act still has its proponents and critics, but one thing they agree on is that the law has been successful in “giving states a greater hand in overseeing schools.” For some, however, concerns remain over “how states are measuring the success...
One Law, Many Viewpoints: How ESSA is Viewed Four Years Into Its Implementation
December 9, 2019
When the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed into law on December 10, 2015, President Barack Obama called it a “Christmas Miracle.” While “public schools are still in the process of formally adjusting,” to the law and some critics continue to raise concerns over its...
ESSA Sets Example for How Federal Policy Can Leverage Evidence to Improve Results
December 5, 2019
As Jed Herrmann reports in The Regulatory Review, the Every Student Succeeds Act is a key example of “landmark bipartisan legislation that is helping identify and invest in what works” in K-12 education by increasing “the use of rigorous evidence” to improve results. ESSA “requires...
Four Ways Lawmakers Can Strengthen ESSA When They Reauthorize It
December 3, 2019
The Every Student Succeeds Act will need to be reauthorized after the 2020-2021 school year and, as Connor P. Williams outlines, this is a prime opportunity for federal lawmakers to strengthen the law. Among his recommendations, Williams suggests lawmakers “consider deeper centralization of public education,”...
Proposed Changes to Civil Rights Data Collection Draws Support and Opposition
November 26, 2019
Proposed changes by the Department of Education (DOE) to the “massive trove of civil rights data” the agency collects from every public school in the country are being lauded by “advocates concerned about anti-Semitism in schools” while also prompting “concern from other civil rights groups...
Progress Toward Improved Assessments Remains Slow
November 22, 2019
Even as policies shift “to accommodate experimentation on the path to better assessment,” progress remains slow despite traditional, standardized approaches not producing the desired results, according to Education Dive. As more educators recognize the “need for more creative and critical thinking,” they are increasingly turning...
Collaboration is the Key to Addressing Education and Economic Inequality
November 21, 2019
The Every Student Succeed Act pushes “states, districts and schools to identify key measures of school quality and to examine and act on the gaps in outcomes and opportunities for historically marginalized student groups.” This latest phase in the evolution of K-12 accountability can and...
NYC & the Forgotten Art of Teaching the Arts
November 18, 2019
“Why, in the New York City public school system, are the arts still being relegated to the realm of the extracurricular?” asks Penny Smith, Executive Director of Education Through Music. In this piece, which argues in favor of supporting the arts in education as a...
In Addition to SEL, ESSA Enables States to Focus on Arts as Measure of School Quality
November 4, 2019
As school leaders ramp up efforts “to integrate social-emotional learning into the instructional day to improve learning and positive outcomes for students,” arts educators see invaluable opportunities to help accomplish SEL goals while meeting school goals and improving student learning. Among the states that have “specifically noted...
More School Districts Look to “Through-Year” Assessments to Inform Instruction
October 31, 2019
School districts in Georgia and Nebraska will be implementing new testing models under ESSA’s Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority program in the coming months and years, according to Linda Jacobson for Education Dive. The goal of these new “through-year” assessments is to “phase out reliance” on...
ESSA and SEL Go Hand-in-Hand to Improve Student Performance
October 30, 2019
A recent Gallup article—based on 12 years of surveys and research—highlights the important link between ESSA’s accountability measures and student engagement, specifically factors related to social-emotional learning, which has become more of a priority in recent years. According to Gallup’s research, “the impact these foundational...
Many States are Rethinking and Reversing Recent Teacher and Principal Evaluation Reforms
October 14, 2019
According to new research from the National Council on Teacher Quality, a majority of states have “backed away from recently enacted policies” aimed at overhauling teacher and principal evaluation systems since passage of ESSA in 2015, writes Laura Ascione of e School News. At least...
Taking a Closer Look at the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority Provision of ESSA
October 14, 2019
In a two-part series for the Center for Assessment, Charlie DePascale takes a close look at the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority (IADA) provision of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which “ostensibly offers states the flexibility needed to ‘establish, operate, and evaluate an innovative assessment system’...
October 8, 2019
At a series of panels cosponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, education experts discussed ways in which America’s education system could improve results by getting “more bang for the buck through the use of technology, or in special education,...
Los Angeles Finalizes $14 million Foster Student Plan
October 3, 2019
Los Angeles might soon stand out as an early leader in figuring out how to overcome barriers to fulfilling ESSA’s promises to foster students, reports Susan Abram for the Chronicle of Social Change, as the district recently approved a five-year, $14 million transportation plan for...
States Readying for ESSA Financial Review of Struggling Districts
September 24, 2019
In this piece—which is part of Education Week’s managing the money report—Daarel Burnette II explores how ESSA “enshrines” the dictum that to budget effectively, you need to know how you spend your money. Federal law requires “for the first time that each state conduct a...
Evanston, Illinois District Demonstrates Power of ESSA Financial Transparency
September 11, 2019
In Evanston, Illinois, a new report—based on ESSA-required school-level spending data—to the District 65 school board “shows a $42,000 range in per pupil spending from school to school across the district…and a $5,000 difference across the K-8 schools.” According to district business manager Kathy Zalewski,...
“Left Behind” Kids “Made Incredible Progress from 90s to Great Recession”
September 9, 2019
This summer, the Fordham Institute’s Michael Petrilli has been “trying to make sense of the sizable gains made by America’s lowest-performing students and kids of color that coincided with the peak of the modern education reform movement.” He wraps up his series on this topic...
How States Evaluate Companies for School Turnaround Efforts
August 31, 2019
In EdWeek Market Brief, Michelle R. Davis explores how, almost four years after ESSA’s passage, the federal law’s evidence-based interventions requirements are upending the K-12 education marketplace. “Requirements that education companies show proof of the effectiveness of their products, services, and strategies are shifting how...
LA County, Rideshare, and Foster Youth
August 20, 2019
Since ESSA’s passage, “school districts and child welfare agencies around the country have been tasked with developing transportation plans to keep foster youth in their schools of origin if that is what they prefer.” Sara Tiano examines Los Angeles County’s approach to fulfilling this requirement,...
Aligning State CTE Plans With ESSA
August 13, 2019
“A new set of recommendations from several education groups argues that as states prepare their new plans for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which will fully kick in for the 2020-21 school year, they should try to align them with ESSA...
August 7, 2019
“While there is a growing recognition that the arts are central to a well-rounded education, schools have been slow to incorporating that into curriculum,” writes Naaz Moden. “Though the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) listed the arts and music as tenants of a ‘well-rounded’ education,...
State-by-State Funding Breakdown
August 6, 2019
Andrew Ujifusa reports on how ESSA has “brought a new focus to school funding and how it works, including a new federal requirement for states to report how much individual schools receive per pupil.” However, the different ways states are approaching providing schools with this...
Leveraging ESSA to Reduce Absenteeism
August 4, 2019
“The Every Student Succeeds Act puts more pressure on schools to ensure their students show up every day,” writes Evie Blad for Education Week. “But when it comes to addressing chronic absenteeism, some educators and policy makers say they are building the plane in the...
2020 Democrats Push Title I Funding
July 28, 2019
In the LA School Report, Carolyn Phenicie takes a look at how many candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential field are looking to increase spending on Title I, the “anchor for some of the biggest education policy changes in the past two decades, No Child...
“Gaping Holes” In State K-12 Spending Tracking
July 15, 2019
“Where, exactly, do those billions of dollars taxpayers annually spend for schools go?” asks Daarel Burnette in Education Week. “In most states, policymakers have no idea.” So instead they “give lawmakers a receipt that includes a summation of broad spending categories, a breakout of average...
States Looking to Implement Innovative Assessment Models
July 10, 2019
In Education Dive, Linda Jacobson takes a look at a recent Bellwether Education Partners “State of Assessment” report, which “comes as the federal government is considering applications for a $17.6 million competitive grant program that would support efforts in four to eight states related to these...
RAND Identifies ESSA-Approved Summer Programs
June 19, 2019
Emily Barack reporting for Education Dive writes that, “a new RAND Corp. publication identifies 43 summer programs that meet the top three tiers of the Every Student Succeeds Act’s (ESSA) evidence standards.” In the analysis of the “Investing in Successful Summer Programs” report, “the researchers...
ESSA and the Challenges Facing Homeless Students
June 11, 2019
“The U.S. high school graduation rate has risen to an all-time high, but schools are still struggling to help their most vulnerable students earn diplomas,” reports Corey Mitchell for Education Week. “The ‘Building a Grad Nation’ report, released Tuesday by Civic, Johns Hopkins University, America’s...
Decreasing Chronic Absenteeism
June 6, 2019
According to Gallup’s Mark Reckmeyer—also reporting on the chronic absenteeism issue—with the implementation of ESSA and it’s “encouraging more diligent tracking and reporting of student behavior metrics,” chronic absenteeism “has become a focal point for parents, principals, districts, and states (36 states include chronic absenteeism...
A “Simple Plan” to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism
June 6, 2019
In Governing, J. Brian Charles reports that chronic absenteeism “plagues” schools across the nation, with roughly 14% of students chronically absent over the 2013-2014 academic year. But there’s a simple answer to this problem, he argues. “When kids are absent, schools are required by state...
May 30, 2019
In this piece, “Reflections of a School Reformer,” FutureEd’s Thomas Toch interviews Bob Wise, who recently departed as president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. Toch asked Wise to “reflect on the evolution of the school reform movement during his time at the Alliance,” including...
May 23, 2019
“This week, two different coalitions sent letters to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate education committees asking them to keep educator diversity in mind when considering legislation,” reports Andrew Ujifusa for Education Week. In one of these missives, the American Association...
Low-Performing Schools Under ESSA
May 19, 2019
Much of ESSA “deals with schools struggling to meet expectations,” reports Andrew Ujifusa in Education Week. “And we have new information concerning just how many of them are being tagged as needing improvement in the Every Student Succeeds Act era.” Ujifusa, notes however, there is a...
May 15, 2019
Also in Education Week, Denisa R. Superville takes a look at a recent survey from MCH Strategic Data, which finds that the “issues that weigh heavily on principals’ minds remained more or less the same.” This year, though “the level of concern on the principals’...
May 12, 2019
In Education Week, as part of the publication’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, Alyson Klein responds to a query posed by Sheryl Santos-Hatchett of the University of North Texas: “What if a state refuses to follow through on or retracts a state plan and doesn’t care...
School Integration in the Age of ESSA
April 14, 2019
“Can advocates for school integration leverage local control as a winning argument in Congress?” asks Andrew Ujifusa in Education Week. Recently, integration advocates and elected officials hosted a Capitol Hill briefing that featured the Strength in Diversity Act and the Century Foundation’s new report on “key...
April 9, 2019
Also a part of Education Week’s special report, Alyson Klein also reports on the work districts are doing to make ESSA a reality. While ESSA has been on the books for several years, for “states and school districts, some of the most important work—including putting...
ESSA’s “Elusive” School Accountability Targets
April 3, 2019
In this piece—which is part of the special report—Andrew Ujifusa focuses on the accountability angle, noting that despite the “procedural progress” made by states, the “myriad of state plans and the painstaking nature of their rollout make it difficult for those in the education policy...
Education Week Drops Massive ESSA Report
April 3, 2019
Recently, Education Week published a special, multi-part report offering “a big-picture look at the state of play on ESSA nationally, along with deeper dives into issues of school accountability, student assessment, data transparency, and school improvement.” Below, we outline a couple of the most interesting...
Parent Engagement—Under ESSA and in the Real World
March 22, 2019
In this piece in The 74, six parent-activists talk about their education engagement practices and how they were driven by wanting better for their children—and all children. These advocates started by “reaching out to other moms and dads and grandmothers and caretakers, giving them the...
A Bipartisan Conversation Between Two Former Governors
March 18, 2019
In a 74 Interview, Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R) and Former Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D) engaged in a one-on-one discussion on bipartisan education policy efforts. The two state leaders focused on college and career readiness, standards, testing, and ESSA. When talking about ESSA,...
March 12, 2019
At last week’s SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, NGA’s education policy director, Seth Gerson discussed how the 39 newly-elected governors across the country are “uniquely education-focused.” And because each state ESSA plan had been approved in fall of last year, Gerson notes that “governors didn’t...
Texas Letting Districts Rate Themselves
March 7, 2019
When Texas “rolled out its new accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act late last year, local superintendents en masse sent letters home to their students’ parents telling them that the letter grade report cards were flawed, simplistic evaluations of their schools,” writes Daarel...
Digging into District Spending in a Dozen States
March 5, 2019
Burnette reports that states are beginning to report spending data as required by ESSA, but that this is “one of the most difficult pieces of the law to comply with and has gotten fierce pushback from district officials who complained that breaking out school spending...
DC Data Analysis Holds Answers to Special Ed Questions
February 20, 2019
Reporting for The 74, Sarah Berger Sandelius highlights three takeaways from D.C. data on special education. While “evidence shows that addressing the needs of our most diverse learners presents a tremendous opportunity, with benefits for the entire education community,” she writes. “We have a lot...
School Improvement and Educational Equity
February 20, 2019
Collaborative for Student Success Communications Specialist Erika Ross takes readers on a sort of “privilege walk” in blog form to explore the urgent question of equity in today’s educational environment through the prism of ESSA school improvement plans. In doing so, she highlights the findings...
Linda Darling-Hammond Selected to Chair California Ed Board
February 13, 2019
Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the appointment of Stanford Professor and Learning Policy Institute President Linda Darling-Hammond, “one of the nation’s preeminent education scholars,” to serve as chair the Golden State’s board of education. In this position, she’ll play a leading role in California’s...
Should Ed Tech Take “Back Seat” to Learning Structure?
February 8, 2019
Ryan Johnston reports for EdScoop News on a new set of policy priorities from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), which state that “acquiring new classroom technology for students to explore isn’t as important as reforming the pedagogical structure they’re learning in.” These...
“Reducing Absences, Capturing Days”
February 6, 2019
In this podcast recording, Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Jill Anderson talks to behavioral scientist Todd Rogers about chronic absenteeism. “Reducing absenteeism is vital, says Rogers, as the Every Student Succeeds Act has led in many states to the increased use of absenteeism as one...
Help Vulnerable Children, Civil Rights Groups Urge
February 4, 2019
“A coalition of civil rights groups is urging state education chiefs to take a long, hard look at their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act,” Alyson Klein reports for Education Week. According to the letter from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human...
DQC Report Asks “How Are States Measuring Student Growth Under ESSA?”
January 23, 2019
“Almost every state is rating schools in part on student growth in test-scores under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” writes Education Week’s Klein. However according to research from the Data Quality Campaign, student growth “doesn’t look the same everywhere and the differences matter to parents...
More Than 100 NYC Schools Identified as Struggling
January 17, 2019
Chalkbeat reports that in New York, state education officials recently released a list of struggling schools, including 124 in New York City. These are the “first round of designations under a new method of identifying low-performing schools” under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. “While...
Bad Data = Massively Skewed Chronic Absenteeism Reports
January 9, 2019
According to U.S. News & World Report, incorrect absenteeism data from a single county (Prince Georges, Maryland) has thrown off “an entire national analysis of chronic absenteeism, providing yet another cautionary tale about the power of data and the major ramifications of data that’s inaccurate.”...
State Report Card Release Deadlines
January 7, 2019
In Education Week, Alyson Klein answers an anonymous reader’s question about “When do states need to publish their ESSA report cards?” She says that there is “really no deadline,” and that, under ESSA, states are only required to publish their report cards annually.
Looking Ahead to the 116th Congress
January 2, 2019
The 74’s Carolyn Phenicie has “6 Education Predictions for the New Split Congress,” including some “ESSA changes.” The Education Department has “set a March 1, 2019, deadline for states to change their ESSA plans for how they’ll rate schools in the 2019-20 school year,” Phenicie...
Educators for High Standards’ Advocacy Project Capstones
December 14, 2018
Over the course of the 2017-2018 school year, Educators for High Standards’ Teacher Champions have designed and implemented state-based advocacy projects focused around standards, assessments, and their state’s accountability plans under ESSA. Teacher Champions in Arizona, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wyoming engaged with parents, community members, teachers, and...
ESSA Report Cards Roll Out “Frustrates School Leaders”
December 13, 2018
Daarel Burnette II reports for Education Week that the “rollout of states’ redesigned school accountability systems in recent weeks has reignited tensions between policymakers, practitioners, and parents over how best to define and incentivize school success.” Just about every state developed new accountability systems under...
School Improvement = State Improvement
December 10, 2018
Dale Chu writes in Governing that ESSA gives state education leaders—particularly governors and chiefs—a unique opportunity to provide all students with an excellent education. At the “heart of this opportunity” are state plans, which “outline how each state will ensure educational excellence and equity.” Chu...
More than 25% of Schools Could “Need Improvement”
December 9, 2018
Alyson Klein reports for Education Week that states are starting to release their lists of schools targeted for additional support—specifically, “Additional Targeted Schools.” That’s the “wonky term for a particular set of schools that need improvement. Something to watch: It could end up describing anywhere...
Understanding Chronic Absenteeism’s Impact
December 3, 2018
“By the end of this month, the Every Student Succeeds Act has required that schools list chronic absenteeism rates on their state report cards,” writes Brian Stack for MultiBriefs. “Many schools across the country have already started to do this, and the work started with...
ESSA & Fostering Arts Education
November 26, 2018
In the latest installment of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, an anonymous reader asks: “How do ESSA plans handle arts education?” Klein says that, under ESSA, states “had to choose at least one indicator of school quality or student success to consider alongside...
Cowen & Porter Shine a Light on Other States’ School Improvement Progress
November 25, 2018
In The 74, the Collaborative’s Jim Cowen and Education First’s William Porter explore how states are approaching school improvement. While there is a lack of publicly available information on state school improvement plans, which is why only 17 states were included in our recent Check...
States Prioritize School Leadership
November 19, 2018
Education Dive’s Linda Jacobson highlights a recent report from the Education Commission of the States. The report discusses how ESSA’s “inclusion of new funding sources for states to invest in leadership, coupled with decades of research identifying the important roles leaders play in student success,...
ESSA Plan “Set to Make Life Harder for Students Learning English”
November 13, 2018
Conor P. Williams writes in The 74 that Florida’s “ambivalence” towards English-language learners “shows up in its recent, meandering efforts to bring its education system into compliance with federal law.” Not only was Florida “the last state” to have its ESSA plan approved, the state...
Presidential 2020 Ed-Election Primer
November 11, 2018
Education Week’s Alyson Klein writes in that, while she knows we are all “bummed” the midterm elections are over, we should fear not—the 2020 presidential election is “right around the corner.” Klein says there is a “good chance that education could be a higher-profile-than-usual issue...
November 8, 2018
In EdWeek Market Brief, Sean Cavanagh takes a look at a webinar which will examine how ESSA is “shaping district purchasing,” and what “this mean for companies and other organizations in the K-12 market.” Cavanagh will moderate the discussion, and he’ll be joined by two...
The Importance of Measuring Subgroups Under ESSA
November 1, 2018
All4Ed’s Anne Hyslop responds to a recent piece by Mike Petrilli about the Alliance’s analysis of ESSA accountability plans, which identified a dozen states that fail to ensure subgroups are “universally included in school ratings.” While Petrilli argued that “Including subgroups in school ratings doesn’t...
Are States Waiting Too Long to Intervene with Struggling Schools?
October 30, 2018
Jayme Kennedy takes a look at a recent report by the National Center for Learning Disabilities, which found that, under their ESSA accountability plans, “29 states don’t report under-performing schools until three years of low performance are recorded.” Additionally, “those same states don’t ask for assistance or...
Candidates Pointing to New State Report Cards
October 30, 2018
State education departments are “rolling out their newest rankings of schools under the federally mandated ESSA plans and, with all the new indicators, there are inevitably lots of changes to districts’ academic performance,” just in time for the midterm elections, Daarel Burnette II writes in Education Week. Already...
ESSA & Tracking College-and-Career Readiness
October 28, 2018
Alyson Klein answers more questions as part of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series. This week, Harvard University graduate student Alex Sabin asks: “An ESSA accountability system can include a school success ‘measure’ outside of test scores such as college-and-career readiness. However, what exactly...
Midterm Races ESSA-Watchers Should Keep Their Eyes On
October 24, 2018
“U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos may have approved every state’s vision for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act—but that doesn’t mean the plans are all done and dusted,” Klein also writes in Education Week. “States can still make changes to their plans,” and after...
ESSA, States, and School Climate
October 21, 2018
In the latest edition of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, Alyson Klein responds to the following query from an anonymous reader: “How many states are including ‘school climate’ in their ESSA accountability systems?” Short answer: “Not as many as you might think.” Click...
Creating Real Partnerships for Family Engagement
October 16, 2018
The National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement’s Vito Borrello and Reyna Hernandez write in The 74 about the “importance of well-designed family, school, and community engagement in supporting children’s learning.” They also discuss how ESSA supports such efforts through its Statewide Family Engagement...
MSI Report Will Help Guide School, Districts with Large Military Student Populations
October 15, 2018
Jessica R. Towhey writes in Inside Sources about the Lexington Institute’s new report, which “promotes best practices from schools and districts with large military populations to help other administrators as they develop student information systems in compliance with” ESSA, which “creates a new student subgroup...
STEM the Big Winner in EIR grants
October 8, 2018
According to Alyson Klein at Education Week, STEM programs were the “big winners” in the “latest round of the Education Innovation and Research grants,” which replaced the Obama Administration’s Investing in Innovation grant program via ESSA and made changes like opening up the grant program...
Key Details on State ESSA Plans
October 7, 2018
Andrew Ujifusa reports for Education Week about the publication’s updated ESSA tracker, highlighting “six individual policy areas that advocates, analysts, and educators are watching closely,” in each state’s plan, such as long-term objectives, measuring school quality “beyond test scores and graduation rates,” and school ratings.
ESSA Missing Lots of Low-Grad-Rate High Schools?
October 3, 2018
A recent study from Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University shines a much-needed light on high schools that have “good enough graduation rates to avoid federally mandated intervention, but are able to produce those rates because so many struggling students...
How Will States Spend “Boost” in Academic Enrichment Grants
September 30, 2018
Klein reports on how ESSA’s Academic Enrichment Grants (aka, Title IV) just “got a huge boost” from $400 million to $1.1 billion. So, “what are districts going to do with those grants?” According to an Education Week Research Center survey, while there are some “regional differences”...
Feds Work on ESSA Just Beginning
September 25, 2018
Alyson Klein of Education Week reports that, despite the approval of most (now all) state ESSA plans by the U.S. Department of Education, in some ways, “the federal government’s work on ESSA is just beginning.” While the law’s “hallmark may be state and local control,”...
ESSA Helping Schools, Families Connect
September 25, 2018
Education Week’s Francisco Vara-Orta writes that students do better when they have engaged parents (or other adults) to not only help with homework, but also serve as their advocate with educators. But for parents with multiple jobs, whose English language skills are limited, or who...
Feds Update Ed Advocates on ESSA
September 24, 2018
Klein reports that on September 24, federal education officials met privately “with a select group of education advocates at the department to talk the Every Student Succeeds Act, the school safety commission, choice, and career and technical education.” Secretary DeVos wasn’t present, but the group “heard from Mick...
Experts Weigh-In on ESSA, Upcoming School Year
September 18, 2018
This video from The 74 features interviews with a broad sampling of education experts about “the current state of America’s schools and the top challenges facing the nation’s education system as states rethink student goals and district accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act.” Interviewees...
Military Student Identifier in Action
September 14, 2018
Karen Jowers, of Military Times, writes about the rollout of ESSA’s military student identifier, which “simply flags a student as being the child of an active-duty service member.” It’s “important for military families to be aware of the change, said Christi Ham, chairwoman of Military...
Combatting Attendance Gaming and Mistakes Under ESSA
September 10, 2018
Taylor Swaak reports for The 74 that “tackling chronic absenteeism is now part of education plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act for 36 states and Washington, D.C.” She also reports that the “resulting requirements are also new, with many states crafting uniform definitions for...
Next Phase of Check State Plans Announced: Promise to Practice
September 6, 2018
Last week, Collaborative for Student Success announced that, in partnership with HCM Strategists, the organization is undertaking “Check State Plans: Promise to Practice,” which will bring together an updated network of peer reviewers to examine how states are implementing their school improvement plans under the...
What’s New Under ESSA for Foster Children?
September 1, 2018
In Education Week, Alyson Klein answers the following query as part of the publication’s ”Answering Your ESSA Questions” series: “What is new for children in foster care under ESSA?” Klein says ESSA “made some key changes for this important population,” including asking districts to “break out achievement data...
Education, ESSA, and Election 2018
August 28, 2018
Former Delaware Governor Jack Markell writes in Real Clear Education that those who win election in 2018 will have an opportunity to have a significant impact on education policy in their states and districts, especially by shaping how their states implement their accountability plans under ESSA. With...
Jim Hunt Talks ESSA, Governors, and Building Bipartisan Support for Education
August 28, 2018
In this video on The 74 website, former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt “sits down to talk about state-level education leadership under the Every Student Succeeds Act, how governors must realize that their economies are irrevocably linked to the performance—and the goals—of their schools, and how in...
NNPA Announces Plan to Poll Black Parents on ESSA
August 24, 2018
Freddie Allen reports for the Philadelphia Tribune that the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) recently “announced plans to conduct a groundbreaking survey” to gauge the awareness of ESSA within the Black community, as part of their “public awareness campaign focused on ESSA, improving educational outcomes...
Partnering with Parents to Combat Chronic Absenteeism
August 21, 2018
According to Stacy Teicher Khadaroo at the Christian Science Monitor, chronic absenteeism is a “stubborn problem,” and schools are always looking out for solutions—especially now, because states are required to publicly report chronic absenteeism under ESSA, and “35 states plus the District of Columbia have...
“Education Policies Must Work in Classrooms”
August 17, 2018
Candace Hines, a kindergarten teacher in the Achievement School District in Memphis, writes in the Commercial Appeal that ESSA gives her state of Tennessee “more autonomy to design policies to meet the needs of our state’s students.” When thinking about improving student achievement, Hines believes we must consider a...
States Ready to Apply for ESSA’s Preschool Development Grants
August 10, 2018
According to Linda Jacobson at Education Dive, starting this week, states will have the ability to start applying for a quarter-of-a-billion dollars in Preschool Development Grants under ESSA that they can use to “expand access to and improve the coordination and quality of early-childhood education programs for children...
Challenges and Questions ESSA Presents for Districts
August 10, 2018
With the school year fast approaching, Alyson Klein asks in Education Week what is “the toughest part of the Every Student Succeeds Act for districts to get a handle on?” To find out, she asked a few experts, including Noelle Ellerson Ng from The School Superintendents Association, Jeff Simering...
A Look at ESSA’s Transparency Requirement
August 9, 2018
Daarel Burnette II writes in Education Week that this school year, “an often-overlooked provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act will offer some deeper information when states start reporting to the public school-by-school spending.” For the first time, “actual school spending—rather than average district per-pupil spending—can reveal where the...
Importance of Chronic Absenteeism Demonstrated by ESSA
July 31, 2018
Taylor Swaak writes in The 74 that the issue of chronic absenteeism “has festered into what the U.S. Department of Education has branded a national crisis,” as evidenced by the fact that 36 states and DC included chronic absenteeism in their ESSA accountability plans.
Smarter Balanced Gets “Thumbs Up” from Federal Officials
July 31, 2018
Stephen Sawchuk reports for Education Week that Nevada’s use of the Smarter Balanced test, “one of the major providers of tests measuring the Common Core State Standards,” has “met all of the U.S. Department of Education’s requirements for grades 3-8.” This represents the first time...
Start-Up, Non-Profit Team Up to Help Districts Manage ESSA Financial Transparency
July 31, 2018
Stephen Babcock reports for Technical.ly Baltimore that with “ESSA’s full implementation—nearly underway,” a startup has “partnered with a national nonprofit on a new tool designed to help public school officials report finances.” Babcock explains that this “transparency-minded change comes under the Every Student Succeeds Act,...
How Does Funding for ESSA’s Testing Requirements Work?
July 23, 2018
In the latest installment of Education Week’s “Answering your ESSA Questions” series, Alyson Klein answers a question from Nicholas Tampio, a professor of education policy at Fordham University: “How does the funding for the testing requirements work?”
ESSA and the Anti-Test Movement
July 23, 2018
“Just a few short years ago, there were real questions about whether Congress would ditch annual, standardized assessments as part of a makeover of the nation’s main K-12 education law,” writes Alyson Klein in Education Week. “At the same time, parents were increasingly choosing to opt...
Inslee to Continue Leading NGA Education and Workforce Committee
July 21, 2018
Washington state Governor Jay Inslee announced he will once again co-lead the National Governors Association’s Education & Workforce Committee, “one of five standing NGA committees responsible for governors’ collective, bipartisan advocacy on federal policies.” The NGA’s Education and Workforce Committee works closely with Congress and...
What’s the Deal with “Highly Qualified Teachers” Under ESSA?
July 16, 2018
In the latest installment of Education Week’s “answering your ESSA questions” series, Alyson Klein responds to an anonymous query from an educator who participated in the publication’s Every Student Succeeds Act summit back in May: “Is highly qualified teacher still required under ESSA?” The “short...
July 13, 2018
This month’s “Federal Flash” from the Alliance for Excellent Education examines “Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s record on education, congressional action on border separation, action by President Trump that could jeopardize diversity in schools, and a quick update on ESSA.”
Focusing on the “Excellence Gap”
June 25, 2018
Dana Goldstein writes in the New York Times that “with test-score gaps narrowing but remaining stubbornly persistent after years of efforts, some in the education field are taking a fresh look at programs for advanced students that once made them uneasy, driven by the same...
States Struggling to “Find One Path” With Accountability Under ESSA?
June 12, 2018
Daarel Burnette II says that a “hallmark” of ESSA was that states would have the freedom to “design one coherent set of priorities for their schools, finally putting an end to the politically divisive system that preceded ESSA, when thousands of schools answered to distinct,...
ESSA for Crossing Guard Signs?
June 11, 2018
In the latest installment of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, Nick Scott, who “works for an Arizona-based company that manufactures LED crossing guard signs for school districts,” wants to know “if districts can use their Every Student Succeeds Act dollars to purchase crossing...
June 4, 2018
Education Week answers the question: “What are the federal guidelines for ‘testing transparency?’ Schools are mandated to get 95 percent participation, but how is that possible is [sic] we tell parents of their opt out rights?” The answer? The law “says that states and schools must test...
“Adopting a Set of Goals Says Nothing about How They will Actually be Carried Out.”
May 31, 2018
This new blog from the Wallace Institute notes that a “milestone moment in federal funding to shrink the academic opportunity gap between kids from poor and wealthier families took place in 1965,” when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Since...
Can Districts Pick SAT or ACT for Accountability?
May 29, 2018
As part of Education Week‘s ongoing series answering reader questions about ESSA, Alyson Klein responds to the following query from an anonymous reader: “Do districts need state permission to take advantage of new ESSA flexibility to substitute a nationally recognized, college-entrance exam (like the SAT...
May 25, 2018
Alan Greenblatt writes in Governing that since New Jersey became the first state to allow takeovers of local school districts by a state in 1989, more than 100 districts have been “appropriated” in states across the country as other states followed the Garden State’s example....
Rep. Roe on Empowering Teachers and ESSA
May 11, 2018
U.S. Representative Phil Roe authored an opinion piece recently on the importance of recognizing hardworking teachers and the positive impact they have on the classroom, as well as his role in crafting ESSA. He praised the work of Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam who sought to...
How Are States Addressing Continuous Improvement?
May 9, 2018
Education Week’s Alyson Klein shares information about how states are approaching continuous improvement in their ESSA plans. While the term “continuous improvement” isn’t explicitly mentioned in the law, Klein notes, “A handful of states are using the law as an opportunity to rethink their systems through a continuous-improvement...
Accountability Dashboards in the States
May 4, 2018
In the latest installment of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, a participant from the publication’s recent ESSA online summit (“Keys to ESSA Implementation”) poses a question, and “it’s a wonky one.” The participant asks: “How many states are using accountability dashboards?” Ed Week’s Alyson Klein has the...
Don’t Know Much About History (of the MSI)…
May 3, 2018
Military Families for High Standards Chairwoman Christi Ham provides an overview of the history of the Military Student Identifier (MSI), from the first “big step” of developing the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children in 2008 to the passage of ESSA in 2015.
Nearly $200M in STEM, Computer Science Grants Up for Grabs
May 2, 2018
According to Michelle Molnar at EdWeek Market Brief, “education companies can partner with educational entities to apply for new federal funds aimed at STEM learning and computer science education in K-12 schools.” Two U.S. Department of Education programs—each with “a focus on expanding access and...
Ed Tech Research Guidelines Updated for ESSA
April 28, 2018
EdWeek Market Brief’s Michele Molnar writes that “research guidelines for ed-tech companies, produced in conjunction with an industry association, have been revised to provide more information about different levels of research” under ESSA and to “get faster answers about ‘what works’ in the K-12 marketplace.”
Discipline Rules, Chronic Absenteeism to “Clash” Under ESSA
April 25, 2018
The 74’s Carolyn Phenicie reports on how tough discipline and chronic absenteeism may “collide” under ESSA. “As more states rate schools based on how many of their students are chronically absent,” she writes, “policymakers must consider harsh discipline practices, an issue at the fore in...
School Choice Getting “Short Shrift” in State Plans?
April 24, 2018
Alyson Klein reports for Education Week that while school choice may be “having a big moment in K-12 policy,” you would “never know it from reading” state ESSA plans. An Education Week review of all state plans reveals “that few are taking advantage of the...
ESSA’s Looming Financial Transparency Requirements…
April 20, 2018
Alison DeNisco writes in District Administration that “in light of a looming ESSA mandate to increase transparency around education spending,” district leaders across the nation “have been struggling to calculate per-pupil spending by school in accordance with state and federal requirements.”
Will Districts Use Evidence to Improve Schools Under ESSA?
April 20, 2018
Alyson Klein notes in Education Week that ESSA is supposed to be a game-changer when it comes to school improvement, giving states and districts the ability to create their own intervention mechanisms for low-performing schools if they can back their claims up with solid data....
Transforming Assessments in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico
April 17, 2018
Mark Keierleber reports on the three places—Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico—that have applied to the U.S. Department of Education to participate in ESSA’s Innovative Assessment Pilot and how “they offer radically different approaches to measuring student outcomes.”
Former Education Secretaries Talk “A Nation at Risk” & ESSA
April 13, 2018
Seven U.S. Department of Education Secretaries came together recently to mark the 35th anniversary of the landmark “A Nation at Risk” report. Leading a discussion, former ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton referenced the Collaborative for Student Success’ and Bellwether Education Partners’ www.checkstateplans.org independent review of state...
ESSA, Funding, and Transparency
April 12, 2018
Lauren Poteat reports for the Atlanta Voice that ESSA requires the nation’s public schools “to give fully-detailed reports on how and where they spend institutional funding.” This requirement begins in December 2019, and “supporters of the rule, including the NAACP, believe it will help to...
ESSA, Military Students, and Progress
April 9, 2018
“As we celebrate the Month of the Military Child, I am reminded of the numerous stories I have heard about the challenges the sons and daughters of our armed forces face because of one (or both) of their parent’s service,” writes Christi Ham, chairwoman of...
How Are School Choice Advocates Feeling About ESSA Funding Pilot?
April 8, 2018
Education Week‘s Alyson Klein takes a look at how, under ESSA, districts can apply for a “weighted student funding pilot,” and how this provision was “billed as a victory for the school choice community.” Thus far, “most of the five districts that want to participate...
How to Avoid Accountability Mistakes of NCLB for Students of Color
March 30, 2018
Derrell Bradford, executive director of the New York Campaign for Achievement Now (NYCAN), writes on The 74 that the “ongoing tensions in the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act” and concerns “that a provision requiring the disaggregation of student data—for minority students in particular—will...
ESSA and the “Failed Promise of Local Control”?
March 23, 2018
ESSA “was supposed to unleash a wave of innovation by getting Uncle Sam off the backs of state and local educators and restoring local control,” says Education Post Executive Director Peter Cunningham in US News & World Report. “It doesn’t look like they are doing...
Districts “Raise Their Hands” for ESSA Funding Pilot
March 15, 2018
“Indianapolis, Puerto Rico, and three other school districts have applied to join the Every Student Succeeds Act’s weighted student-funding pilot during the 2018-19 school year,” writes Education Week’s Alyson Klein. “Participating districts can combine federal, state, and local dollars into a single funding stream tied...
ESSA Media Coverage “Improving”?
March 15, 2018
“Six months ago, insiders, advocates, and educators asked to comment on media coverage of ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) complained mightily that they weren’t getting what they wanted about states’ new school-improvement plans,” writes Alexander Russo. But now, six months later, while complaints remain, there...
States, ESSA, and early learning funds
March 12, 2018
The First Five Years Fund has released a new report regarding states’ use of ESSA to garner federal support for early learning. The report, entitled “Early Learning In State ESSA Plans – Implementation Snapshot: How States Are Using the Law,” shows “how each state plans to either launch new...
March 9, 2018
ESSA “attempts to rectify many of the problems with No Child Left Behind (NCLB),” writes Miami University Professor Andy Saultz, including by adding a “non-academic” indicator to accountability systems. Saultz “spent much of the last two years working with, and listening to, educators strategizing about how to...
“Widening the Horizon” with innovative assessments
March 8, 2018
CCSSO’s Innovation Program Manager Adriana Martinez says that for years, “states have taken the lead in exploring how to create better ways to assess students.” Now, under ESSA, states “have the opportunity to innovate in assessment in different ways, including through a new innovative assessment pilot.” Through...
ND chief responds to DeVos criticism of state ESSA plans
March 8, 2018
Kirsten Baesler, state superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, responded to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ recent remarks at the Council of Chief State School Officers Legislative conference in an Education Week op-ed. Baesler encourages DeVos “to engage in meaningful conversation with chief state school...
The British (Education Research) Invasion
March 5, 2018
“When it comes to helping teachers and education leaders use research, U.S. advocates may have something to learn from how their colleagues across the pond connect research to practice,” writes Education Week’s Sarah D. Sparks. The Society for Research in Educational Effectiveness’ recent annual conference highlighted ways the...
ESSA Getting Tricky With Financial-Transparency Provision
February 27, 2018
Education Week’s Daarel Burnette II reports that a “tricky financial-transparency requirement” in ESSA has “cranked up tensions among state politicians, school district administrators, and civil rights activists over public understanding of how districts divvy up their money among schools.” ESSA “requires districts to break out...
Balanced District Funding “Next Educational Equity Battleground” Under ESSA?
February 25, 2018
When Congress passed ESSA in 2015, writes The 74’s Mark Keierleber, it “included a little-noticed, bipartisan provision that requires states to report per-pupil spending at the school level.” According to advocates and researchers, this change “is likely to expose disparities in the way some districts...
Educators, Trump Admin at Loggerheads Over Title II Funding
February 23, 2018
Denisa R. Superville writes in Education Week that, for the second year in a row, “several federal programs that pay for school-leader recruitment, training, and professional development are on the chopping block.” The Trump Administration says the programs are to be eliminated because they have...
State Chiefs Using ESSA to “Best Serve Their Unique Students”
February 7, 2018
“I served for six years as the commissioner of education in Kentucky, and during my time we implemented bold, innovative reforms that are still in place today,” writes Terry Holliday in The 74. Now, state chiefs across the nation are making similar efforts through the...
The “Tricky Dance” Between Researchers and Educators
February 5, 2018
Education Week’s Sarah D. Sparks reports that, while “on paper” ESSA promotes partnerships between educators and researchers to more efficaciously use data and improve teaching, in reality, “researcher access to data has become an even more complex dance, with an unprecedented flow of education data...
Markell: Governors Should Work with Stakeholders to Improve Education for Students
January 30, 2018
Former Delaware Governor Jack Markell writes that governors and other state leaders have the opportunity “to do a lot more to take ownership of their education plans and work with stakeholders—parents, educators and community members—to create and implement sound ESSA plans.” Governor Markell also discusses...
States “Struggle” With ESSA Foster Children Rules
January 18, 2018
Alyson Klein writes in Education Week about a new report from the Chronicle of Social Change, which discusses how states are doing in implementing ESSA’s requirement that students in foster care be able to remain in their “school of origin,” and how states must “work...
January 17, 2018
Vesia Wilson-Hawkins—a former student, parent, and staffer in Nashville, Tennessee schools—writes in The 74 about the need to engage parents and close the “parent gap” under ESSA. This piece is part of a series on parent engagement and ESSA, which is “examining from parents’ perspectives...
Empowered Parents = Stronger Student Achievement
January 17, 2018
As part of The 74’s parent engagement series, Katie Braude and Chantel Hunter Mah urge school districts—specifically the Los Angeles Unified School District—to give parents real power to make changes in their children’s classrooms, especially given the link between parental involvement and student achievement.
The 74 Previews an Interesting Year for ESSA
January 15, 2018
The 74 is taking a look ahead to the 2018–2019 school year—and ESSA’s transition from planning to practice. They explore how, as a new Administration wrangles with enforcement, the new law is not a “footnote” from 2015, but rather a “2018 test,” when states will...
States Not So into ESSA Exam Flexibility When It Comes To ACT/SAT
January 7, 2018
Education Week’s Alyson Klein reports that, while ESSA gives “districts the chance to use a nationally-recognized college entrance exam, instead of the regular state test, for accountability purposes,” thus far, only North Dakota and Oklahoma have plans to do so, with two other states—Georgia and Florida—considering...
US News: “Concerns Mount Over K-12 Education Plans”
January 3, 2018
“As states cement education plans for their schools under” ESSA, writes US News & World Report’s Lauren Camera, “the Dept. of Education “is working furiously to assess them amid mounting concerns about states’ commitment to following the law, their proposals to ensure historically disadvantaged students...
Education Week Answers on Testing
January 3, 2018
In the third installment of Education Week’s Answering Your ESSA Questions series, Alyson Klein responds to an anonymous education advocate who wants to know how teachers and schools can work through districts to get both state and federal funds to undertake the kind of testing...
Oklahoman Editorial Board Cites Check State Plans in OK ESSA Plan Critique
January 2, 2018
The editorial board of The Oklahoman has something to say about the Collaborative for Student Success and Bellwether Education Partners’ CheckStatePlans.org review of Oklahoma’s ESSA plan. Based in part on this review, the board concludes: “School grades serve an important public function and should reflect...
Check State Plans Reveals States’ Failure to Seize ESSA Opportunity
December 31, 2017
Washington Post Columnist Jay Mathews writes that, in December, the “Collaborative for Student Success, in partnership with Bellwether Education Partners, reported on state efforts to install creative programs to boost achievement, as encouraged by” ESSA. However, these “efforts are failing miserably, according to 45 experts...
LA Times Editorial Board Also Cites Check State Plans
December 29, 2017
According to the Los Angeles Times, just a week before the federal Department of Education told California to revise its ESSA plan, “an independent, nonpartisan education group that has been rating the ESSA plans of each state gave California’s proposal particularly low scores.”
Hyslop: Soft Bigotry of Low ESSA Expectations
December 14, 2017
“The issue is states aren’t telling Washington what they’re doing. That’s the takeaway from the second round of independent reviews of state ESSA plans released by Bellwether Education Partners and the Collaborative for Student Success,” as noted by Anne Hyslop, former senior policy advisor at the U.S....
ESSA is not a Technical Exercise
December 12, 2017
“There is no one-size-fits-all method to accountability,” according to Jim Cowen, executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success. Cowen stresses the importance of state ESSA plans because, “they punctuate a state’s commitment to its students and they set the vision and rhythm for educational...
The 74 on Independent Peer Review of State ESSA Plans: “Opportunity Wasted”
December 12, 2017
“States largely squandered the opportunity to create strong, innovative education plans through the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan group of independent reviewers found,” writes Carolyn Phenicie in The 74. As Erika McConduit, president and CEO of the Urban League of Louisiana and one of...
Education Week: Many State ESSA Plans Are ‘Uncreative, Unambitious’
December 12, 2017
ESSA “was supposed to free states up to go off in bold, new directions on K-12 policy,” reports Alyson Klein in Education Week. Did state plans live up to that promise? “Not so much.” Scott Sargrad, managing director of K-12 policy at the Center for...
Five Experts On Best New Ideas From ESSA Plans
December 6, 2017
This Collaborative for Student Success blog asks five education experts—Diane Stark Rentner of the Center on Education Policy, Aaron Churchill of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, former Georgia superintendent of public schools Kathy Cox, Paige Kowalski of the Data Quality Campaign, and David Dunn, a...
Military Families, the MSI, and ESSA
December 5, 2017
“Our armed forces have a manpower problem,” write retired U.S. Army general Ann Dunwoody and Military Families for High Standards Chairwoman Christi Ham. Retaining our current forces is as important as recruitment, but current members of the armed services “are increasingly concerned about their choice...
What Common Mistakes Are Peer Reviewers Seeing in State Plans?
December 4, 2017
The latest edition of the Collaborative for Student Success’ blog series highlighting CheckStatePlans.org peer reviewers’ thoughts on what they’ve seen, what they’ve been looking for, and what they wanted to see in second-round ESSA plans asks three experts—Doug Mesecar of The Lexington Institute, Ryan Reyna...
States Evaluating Teacher Evaluation
November 28, 2017
With the passage and implementation of ESSA, Education Week’s Alyson Klein reviews how the new law is impacting state-based teacher evaluation systems. Thus far, six states (Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Oklahoma) have “dropped teacher evaluations through student outcomes,” according to research by...
What’s the Deal With ESSA Block Grant Funding?
November 21, 2017
As part of Education Week’s Answering Your ESSA Questions! series, Alyson Klein also examines the timeline for Title IVA funds under ESSA, as well as how states are approaching this important issue
Not Business as Usual for State Chiefs
November 20, 2017
State education chiefs are “scrambling staff duties and outsourcing tasks such as data collection and school improvement efforts as they prepare for new responsibilities under” ESSA, reports Education Week’s Daarel Burnette II. At the same time, they are also coping with ongoing funding and staffing...
Reviewers Weigh In: What Parents Should be Watching
November 15, 2017
In anticipation of the release of the second round of independent peer review results, we asked peer reviewers to share their thoughts on different aspects of state ESSA plans. In the first blog, which appeared on The 74, the Collaborative asked five peer reviews about...
You have questions. Ed Week Has Answers
November 13, 2017
In the first installment of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, where readers send in their queries about ESSA, a school-based administrator asks, “Is testing the only way a student can achieve success” under ESSA? Their short answer? “No.”
Arts Support for Academics Tricky under ESSA
November 9, 2017
In Education Week, Stephen Sawchuk asks “Can Schools Use Arts to Support Academics Under ESSA?” The answer is that “It’s Tricky.” Sawchuk says it is in fact “doable” to use the arts to support academics as part of ESSA, but according to a new report...
Opting Out of the Opt-Out Movement Thanks to ESSA
November 1, 2017
According to Education Dive, the opt-out movement “appears to be slowly fading” as “states gain more control of testing requirements” under ESSA; in New York, for example, where the “opt-out movement has been the strongest,” the opt-out rate has dropped 2 percentage points in just the...
How Waiver Requests Could Affect ESSA Implementation
October 26, 2017
ESSA was “designed to let states determine for themselves how to hold schools accountable,” writes Jessica R. Towhey in the NH Journal, but it “may leave more children behind if states are allowed to skirt federal requirements through waivers.” Shifting responsibility for education from the...
Got ESSA Questions? Ask Politics K-12
October 26, 2017
With ESSA in place in school districts across the country this year, there is “still a lot of confusion about the law,” so Education Week has pulled together a sort of Internet-based hotline where people can email questions to reporters Alyson Klein (aklein@epe.org) or Andrew Ujifusa (aujifusa@epe.org)...
Thanks to ESSA, Parents Now have Clearer, Better-Defined School Ratings Information
October 26, 2017
North Dallas Gazette editor Ruth Ferguson reports that, as school districts begin to integrate ESSA, one “potential positive” is that parents may be able to access clearer, better-defined school ratings information. This is because, under ESSA, states “are required to provide an annual overview” in...
Are States Trying to Create Assessments in Students’ First Language?
October 24, 2017
Education Week’s Corey Mitchell writes that under ESSA, states must “make every effort” to create assessments “in students’ first languages if they constitute a significant portion of the student population.” But a number of states are “gambling that their English-only laws” will allow them to...
Impacts of ESSA on English Language Learners
October 21, 2017
Education Week’s Larry Ferlazzo asks: “What is the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act on English Language Learners?” He discusses this question with numerous contributors, including Margo Gottlieb, Sarah Said, Catherine Beck, Heidi Pace, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, Tabitha Dell’Angelo, and Lindsey Moses. Ferlazzo thinks ESSA could potentially...
October 20, 2017
Education Week takes a look at how ESSA is helping to give state report cards a “head-to-toe makeover,” in both their look and the data displayed. Under ESSA, states must present this information in an “easily accessible and user-friendly” manner, and with “plenty more data points...
Ed Trust will Pivot to Being More Deeply Engaged in States
October 19, 2017
Black Enterprise examined the work of Lillian Lowery, vice president for P-12 Policy and Practice at The Education Trust, noting that she’s “furthering Obama’s ‘Every Student Succeeds’ quest.” According to the article, Lowery and Ed Trust are focusing on working with states, especially in the ESSA...
States are Taking a Harder Look at Learning in Early Grades
October 19, 2017
Education Dive writes that as policymakers and educators review state ESSA plans, “a recent analysis from New America focuses on how states are incorporating indicators related to young children’s learning into their plans.” For example, some states plan to leverage data via the Classroom Assessment Scoring...
Ed Week Assesses How States Address School Performance
October 4, 2017
When ESSA was enacted, “speculation swirled that states might use it as a launching pad to use measures of students’ social and emotional competencies to determine whether their schools are successful.” However, according to Evie Blad in Education Week, nearly two years later, “not a...
Chalkbeat Examines How Schools are Addressing Chronic Absenteeism
October 3, 2017
Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum writes that, under ESSA, schools “across the country are about to be held accountable for student attendance—attaching stakes to a measure that previously had much less significance and increasing the risk that schools will try to manipulate that data.” Of course, “one way...
Ed Week Takes Closer Look at Submitted ESSA Plans
October 2, 2017
With ESSA “on the verge of hitting classrooms nationwide,” and almost all state accountability plans submitted to the Dept. of Education, Education Week’s Alyson Klein, Stephen Sawchuk, and Andrew Ujifusa take a closer look at these plans to examine “just what do states intend to do...
States Have Opportunity to Rethink how to Handle Testing Opt-outs
October 2, 2017
“Parents who opted their children out of state exams in recent years became the focal point of major education debates in the country about the proper roles of testing, the federal government, and achievement gaps,” writes Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa. But under ESSA, “states have a...
Ed Week Examines States’ Efforts in Making Sure All Students Matter in Accountability Systems
October 2, 2017
Education Week examines whether the “widespread worry that states would walk away from making sure that particular groups of students—English-language learners, students in special education, and racial minorities—mattered in their school accountability systems” under ESSA is well founded.
States Measure School Quality and Student Success in Various Ways
September 29, 2017
Education Week’s Daarel Burnette II writes that ESSA was meant to “unleash a flood of innovation” when it came to, among other things, measuring school quality and student success beyond test scores.” So why, he asks “did so many states end up picking two ways...
NPR Examines Submitted ESSA Plans
September 26, 2017
NPR highlights how “36 states and the District of Columbia are using some form of chronic student absenteeism” in their ESSA plans. Author Elissa Nadworny notes, “The latest national numbers suggest that more than 6 million students are ‘chronically absent,’” and emphasizes comments made by...
Ed Week Releases Message for School Officials
September 24, 2017
Education Week’s Alyson Klein, Andrew Ujifusa, and Stephen Sawchuk have a message for school officials: “Get ready to figure out whether your students have a problem with chronic absenteeism. And while you’re at it, see if you’re getting them ready for college and the workplace.”...
Ed Week Examines Two-Year Process of Drafting ESSA Plans
September 18, 2017
“The grinding, two-year process of drafting accountability plans under ESSA has upended states’ K-12 political landscape and laid bare long-simmering factions among power brokers charged with putting the new federal education law into effect this school year,” writes Daarel Burnette II in Education Week. The...
Dale Chu Discusses Independent Peer Review Process
September 18, 2017
Dale Chu, former vice president of Policy and Operations at America Succeeds and a former assistant superintendent for Innovation and Improvement at the Indiana Department of Education, discusses his role as an independent peer reviewer and provided guidance for Indiana education officials as they finalized...
States Utilize New Opportunities under ESSA
September 18, 2017
According to Education Dive, ESSA gives states “more flexibility regarding educational goals, and states are now examining ways to strengthen science education as part of their new assessment strategies.” A number of “states that have already submitted ESSA plans to the U.S. Department of Education...
The 74 Discusses Summative Ratings for School Performance
September 17, 2017
On The 74, Carolyn Phenicie discusses how, as the recently passed deadline for submission of state ESSA plans approached, many states were moving away from summative ratings for school performance. About half of the then-pending state plans used “some sort of clear, summative rating for...
Finalizing State’s ESSA Plan is Only the Beginning
September 14, 2017
The “most important work to building a better Iowa starts with building a better school system to prepare today’s students” for new economy jobs, writes strategic advisor and American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow John Bailey in this piece about Iowa’s ESSA plan. Bailey says that,...
The Importance of Standards under ESSA
September 2, 2017
Dr. Elizabeth Primas, program manager for the NNPA/ESSA Public Awareness Campaign, writes about the importance of standards under ESSA, which gives states leeway to “continue using the Common Core State Standards and/or create and adopt their own rigorous standards.” And along with the “freedom to...
Opportunities for Military-Connected Students under ESSA
September 1, 2017
Military Families for High Standards Chairwoman Christi Ham discussed opportunities for students under ESSA. According to Ham, “Given the average military-connected student moves six to nine times between kindergarten and graduating high school, many of the sons and daughters of U.S. service members get used...
Alliance for Excellent Education Write about the Interim Review of NY’s ESSA Plan
August 28, 2017
Phillip Lovell, vice president of Policy Development and Government Relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education, write about the interim review of New York’s ESSA plan. Lovell notes that the goal of this interim review was to “identify both strengths and areas for improvement in...
Ed Week Examines ESSA Impact on High School Graduation Rates
August 25, 2017
Education Week’s Catherine Gewertz writes that a “little-noticed change in the country’s main federal education law could force many states to lower their high school graduation rates, a politically explosive move no state would relish.” Indiana is “the first state to be caught in the...
District Leaders Call for More Input on Federal Money
August 24, 2017
“For decades, district leaders have been clamoring for more say over how they spend their federal money,” reports Alyson Klein of Education Week. “And when ESSA passed back in 2015, it looked like they had finally gotten their wish: a brand-new $1.6 billion block grant...
Education Dive Examines ESSA’s Four Biggest Impacts
August 21, 2017
In a new post, Education Dive editor Roger Riddell writes on ESSA’s four biggest impacts. The law has shifted power back to districts and given states “more decision-making freedom” when it comes to standardized testing and “how they use their funding.” When it comes to...
U.S. Dept. of Ed Speeds up Review of ESSA Plans
August 21, 2017
Education Week’s Alyson Klein writes that the U.S. Dept. of Education is “speeding up” its review of ESSA plans. But even though they’re speeding up their feedback process, “it’s not clear just how much of a role the federal feedback is having in shaping states’...
RealClearEd Examines DeVos’ Reaction to States ESSA Plan
August 11, 2017
RealClearEducation examined how U.S. Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos is “encouraged” to see states expand school choice under ESSA. The piece identifies local efforts in Arizona, Colorado, and Florida. In a statement to RealClearEducation, DeVos was pleased “to see so many states pass pro-student and...
Ed Week Examines Flexibility of State Testing under ESSA
August 3, 2017
Education Week examined how flexible state testing is under ESSA. The piece looked into how Oklahoma “offered its districts a choice of two nationally recognized tests, the ACT or the SAT.” However, the Dept. of Education argued that the plan “wasn’t compliant with the law,”...
Civil Rights Leaders Discuss Closing Achievement Gaps in State ESSA Plans
August 1, 2017
Civil rights leader and Urban League of New Orleans President Erika McConduit spoke with BlackPressUSA about the need for a focus on closing achievement gaps in state ESSA plans – and how the plans already submitted have fallen short. McConduit notes that “some ESSA state...
Education Experts Urge States to Utilize Opportunities under ESSA to Help Homeless Students Succeed
July 31, 2017
According to Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, and John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises, ESSA creates a new opportunity to “help homeless students succeed academically.” The two urge states to “review notes on submitted plans from other states’ McKinney-Vento coordinators,” which “provide constructive responses on...
Some States Say Thanks-But-No-Thanks
July 26, 2017
Are states taking the Department of Education’s advice on their ESSA plans? Not in every case, reports Education Week’s Alyson Klein. In “some cases, states have said thanks-but-no-thanks,” and have resubmitted “revised plans that may or may not be kosher under the new law.” Given...
Former Governor Jack Markell Highlights Opportunity under ESSA
July 25, 2017
Former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell authored an opinion piece on states’ opportunities under ESSA. He argued “states have a real opportunity to think critically about the ways they’re supporting schools,” and how “to make improvements to current policies and practices.” Markell also highlighted the review...
States and Education Groups Voice Concerns about U.S. Dept. of Ed’s Comments
July 17, 2017
As reported by Education Week, states and education groups are bristling at the U.S. Dept. of Education’s comments on ESSA plans. Recently, the Council of Chief State School Officers said that the “first set of feedback to three states was too prescriptive in certain areas...
Are States Addressing Achievement Gaps in ESSA Plans?
July 12, 2017
Noting that many state plans “show promise in terms of how states will identify and support struggling schools,” Cabinet Report’s Alisha Kirby focuses on the fact that, “no state has submitted a plan likely to close achievement gaps between subgroups.” States did well in many...
Ed Experts Voice Concerns about U.S. Dept. of Ed’s Feedback on States’ ESSA Plans
July 7, 2017
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, “who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike,” the New...
NNPA Seeks to Increase Awareness about ESSA
July 7, 2017
Dorothy Leavell, chairwoman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, announced “that she wants the NNPA to be the principle source of information for the Black community concerning the implementation of ESSA. The group seeks to “increase awareness about ESSA with a focus on engaging Black...
EdWeek Examines Various Accountability Measures under ESSA
July 7, 2017
Education Week examined how states can use science, social studies, and the arts as accountability measures under ESSA. The piece argues that “states can use science test scores to judge both kinds of schools,” but “they need to meet certain requirements.” So far, Connecticut, Delaware,...
More States Holding Schools Accountable in ESSA Plans
July 5, 2017
Bellwether Education Partners’ Chad Aldeman was featured on the Fordham Institute’s podcast The Education Gadly Show to discuss the recent review of state ESSA plans. Aldeman noted that the peer reviewers “found out that there are a lot of strengths and pros on how states are thinking about expanding...
Ed Week Assesses State’s Dependence on Waivers
July 5, 2017
Ed Week’s Andrew Ujifusa writes that the “Every Student Succeeds Act hasn’t been the only time in the last few years that events in Washington led states to rethink their accountability and other education policies.” Ujifusa is referring to the Obama Administration’s waivers from the...
Everything you need to Know about ESSA in one Helpful Buzzfeed list
July 2, 2017
Need an ESSA refresher? We’ve got you covered. In honor of America’s birthday, the Collaborative compiled this Buzzfeed list of the four helpful things everyone should know. As we note, “States are choosing their own adventure. This is great news because it means states can...
U.S. Dept. of Education Wants More Information from 5 States
June 30, 2017
According to Education Week, “Connecticut, Louisiana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Tennessee got preliminary feedback Friday from the U.S. Department of Education on their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act, which must be approved by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.” Alyson Klein breaks down...
U.S. Dept. of Ed Gives States an Extra Year to Comply with New ESSA Requirement
June 29, 2017
The U.S. Department of Education is giving states and districts an extra year to comply with new financial transparency requirements within ESSA to show the amount of money spent per student. But as Education Week’s Alyson Klein reports, many civil rights groups that praised the requirement...
How often was Education Jargon Used in State ESSA Plans?
June 26, 2017
Education Week examined “education jargon” used throughout the 17 state ESSA plans that have been submitted to the Dept. of Education. The piece found “12 pieces of jargon and tracked how often they occurred.” The word “stakeholder” was the top result with 1,577 mentions.
Personalized Learning for State ESSA Plans
June 25, 2017
Doug Mesecar, an adjunct scholar at the Lexington Institute, authored an opinion piece in The 74 discussing how states are “seizing the opportunity ESSA provides to start moving to personalized learning.” Mesecar argues “Tennessee has the most comprehensive approach to personalized learning,” and how it...
Independent Peer Review Groups Examine ESSA Plans
June 23, 2017
Real Clear Education examined how ESSA plans are being reviewed not only by the Dept. of Education, but by independent peer review groups. Real Clear Education highlighted review projects by Bellwether Partners and the Collaborative for Student Success, the Fordham Institute, and the Council of...
Education Week Assesses CT, IL, VT, and DE’s ESSA Plans
June 23, 2017
Education Week found that Connecticut, Illinois, Vermont, and Delaware’s ESSA plans “explicitly want to incorporate subjects other than math and ELA into either their academic- or school quality indicators.” As part of its school quality measure, Illinois seeks to include a “fine arts indicator based...
Recent Dept. of Ed Feedback to Delaware Worries Ed Experts, According to Ed Week
June 21, 2017
According to Education Week, the Dept. of Education’s recent feedback to Delaware on the state’s ESSA plan is causing a bit of “confusion.” Some experts are worried Sec. DeVos and “her team may be telling different states different things when it comes to how they...
New Interactive ESSA Map from The 74 and the Collaborative
June 21, 2017
The 74 and the Collaborative for Student Success released an interactive map that provides viewers updates on where all 50 states are in the ESSA planning process. The map also shares relevant news coverage on how states have constructed their plans and engaged parents, educators...
June 20, 2017
In an opinion piece, Emmett McGroarty and Jane Robbins, senior fellows at the American Principles Project, argued the Dept. of Education may not be returning as much local control to the states under ESSA as originally promised. The piece examines how states like Delaware, Nevada,...
Education Week Takes a Look at How States Plan to Fix Struggling Schools Though ESSA
June 14, 2017
Education Week examined how states are planning to fix struggling schools through their ESSA plans. States that have submitted their ESSA plans look to address “perennially struggling schools, and schools where certain groups of students, like English-language learners, aren’t doing well.”
NJ, IL, and LA Plans Focusing on English Learners
June 13, 2017
The 74 highlighted ESSA plans that focused on helping English Learners. According to the piece, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Illinois are “making good use of their newfound flexibility” for EL students. The 74 explains that ESSA leaves important EL decisions up to the states, including:...
U.S. Dept. of Education Provides Feedback to Delaware, Nevada and New Mexico
June 13, 2017
According to Education Week, the U.S. Department of Education has given Delaware, Nevada, and New Mexico feedback on their plans, including a detailed list of information they need to provide to get their plans approved. Dale Chu, who is working with the Collaborative for Student...
The 74 Features the Collaborative’s ESSA Essentials Series
June 12, 2017
Every Monday morning, The 74 will be featuring the Collaborative for Student Success’ new ESSA Essentials series, which recaps the latest developments surrounding ESSA and featuring political, policy, and procedural news from local districts, states, and the federal government. This week’s recap features some important...
Education Post Examines States’ Approaches to School Accountability
June 5, 2017
Education Post examined how states are approaching school accountability in their ESSA plans. The piece identified that in the 17 plans already submitted to the Dept. of Education, “most states will count most students from traditionally disadvantaged groups—students with disabilities or low-income students,” and “many...
States Begin to Host Teacher Training Sessions on ESSA Implementation
June 5, 2017
As states begin to host training sessions on ESSA implementation, Education Week engaged with New Mexico and Louisiana on their efforts. According to New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera, “despite the criticism from union officials, the state’s plan is a product of all New Mexicans...
Ed Week Takes a Look at How States Define Ineffective Teachers under ESSA
May 30, 2017
Education Week examined states’ struggle to “define ineffective teachers under ESSA.” Civil rights organizations and other education groups “have expressed deep frustration with how some states ignored this portion of the law in the 17 plans submitted so far” and are “pushing the Education Department...
Federal Condition of Education Report Focuses on Homeless Students and their Academic Achievement
May 26, 2017
According to the latest federal Condition of Education report, about “1.3 million American students [without] a safe, stable place to sleep at night” who, under ESSA, will receive additional focus. The law requires that “all states will have to report not just the number of...
Ed Week Assesses How States will Measure Career Readiness
May 24, 2017
As states continue to develop and refine their accountability systems under ESSA, Education Week examined whether states will be “able to adequately measure the ‘career’ part of” the college and career readiness “equation.” Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce,...
Charter School Efforts Not Mention in Most State ESSA Plans
May 23, 2017
Education Week finds that few state ESSA plans are mentioning charter school efforts. Jennifer Thomsen, the author and director of the Education Commission of the States Knowledge and Research Center, argued that, “what we’re really seeing in most of the accountability sections is that district...
Primas Calls for Parent and Community Involvement in ESSA Development
May 22, 2017
In a BlackPressUSA column, NNPA Program Manager Dr. Elizabeth Primas notes that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) attempts “to fulfill the promise of a high-quality education for all of our children. ESSA advocates for qualified teachers, high standards, robust programs, and assessments, which inform...
States Shift Power Back to Local School Boards
May 19, 2017
Under ESSA, states are shifting power back to local school boards, Education Week writes. In states like Kentucky, school boards will have the power to “hire principals, select curriculum, and set a school’s budget.” North Dakota’s plan also “leaves plenty of room for local school...
Experts Questioning Impact of Lack of Personnel at Dept. of Ed on ESSA
May 19, 2017
Education Week highlights experts who are questioning the lack of personnel at the Dept. of Education to review state ESSA plans. According to Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, “having fewer staffers—and few with official Senate confirmation—means a lot of more...
New Bill Aimed to Overhaul Parts of ESSA
May 16, 2017
A new bill has been proposed in Congress to “overhaul the nation’s law governing career-and-technical-education” under ESSA. According to Education Week, the bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act “would redefine which students are considered “concentrators” in CTE programs, allow states...
Former Rep. Kline Discusses ESSA and Local Control
May 10, 2017
In The Hill, former Congressman and chair of the House Education Committee, John Kline, discussed how ESSA shifts “education authority and accountability out of Washington and back to the states, where it belongs.” He also cites Sec. DeVos’ recent comments that ESSA “essentially does away...
Ed Week Takes a Look at State’s ESSA Plans
May 10, 2017
Two unique opportunities exist within ESSA for states to utilize funding that would have gone to districts under past federal formulas, but can now be used for specific programs or purposes like personalized learning, credit recovery, or programs that support school leaders or principals. Interestingly,...
Former Gov. Jack Markell Sees Opportunity for Assessment Audits
May 7, 2017
Former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell wrote in The 74 about the importance of assessments and the opportunity states have under ESSA to use federal funds for conducting assessment audits. Reflecting on the steps taken in Delaware to ensure that students “weren’t taking duplicative assessments and...
The 74 Highlights 3 States That Included School Climate Surveys
April 30, 2017
The 74 identified three states, (Illinois, Nevada, and New Mexico) that included “school climate surveys as part of their fifth indicator accountability tool” in ESSA implementation plans. According to Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, “It’s not an easy thing to...
Real Clear Ed Examines IN and WV Efforts in Drafting ESSA Plan
April 27, 2017
Real Clear Education examined why Indiana and West Virginia are lagging in drafting their ESSA implementation plans. The article found that states which “have adopted and implemented higher academic standards have been able to overcome political divides and develop the relational infrastructure necessary to make...
Harvard Professor Argues ESSA’s Main Importance
April 24, 2017
Thomas Kane, the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and Economics at Harvard University and faculty director of Center for Education Policy Research, argued ESSA’s main importance is the flexibility provided to the states. Kane noted, “ESSA allows states the discretion to encourage local innovation...
Education Advocates Weigh in on ESSA and Closing Gaps in Achievement
April 24, 2017
Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, authored an opinion piece on closing the achievement gap under ESSA. Chavis believes, “raising awareness about ESSA among all parents, especially Black parents is vital.” He calls for parents to “increase...
Education Week Develops ESSA Plan Tracker
April 21, 2017
Education Week developed a “Key Takeaways Dashboard” to track the details of states’ ESSA plans. The dashboard examines states’ overall goals, school ratings, academic indicators, school quality indicators, measuring groups, and opt-out testing. The page also provides direct links to states’ submitted draft plans.
Recent Rollback of ESSA Regulations has led to More Confusion, Says Wade Henderson
April 20, 2017
According to Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, the recent rollback of the ESSA regulations “has led to more confusion and uncertainty for states who are in the middle of drafting...
Ed Week Takes Deeper Look at Per Pupil Spending under ESSA
April 19, 2017
Education Week examined an ESSA provision related to per pupil spending. Some experts argue models for calculating per-pupil spending may no longer be valid, causing new challenges for states. While proponents of the measure believe that “school-level spending would show whether majority black, Latino and...
U.S. News & World Report Looks at How States are Incorporating School Choice
April 19, 2017
U.S. News & World Report notes that just three of the 10 ESSA plans submitted to the Dept. of Education include language related to expanding school choice, despite Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ suggestion that they do so. New Mexico, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. do not...
Ed Week Analysis Shows Common Indicators among State Plans
April 6, 2017
Education Week examined state’s submitted ESSA plans on gauging school performance. Three common indicators included (1) chronic absenteeism (CT, DC, DE, IL MA, TN); (2) college/career readiness (CT, DE, MA, NV, VT); and (3) 9th grade success (CT, IL, MA).
April 5, 2017
Bellwether Education Partners and the Collaborative for Student Success have partnered to assemble a group of 30 experts to independently review ESSA plans that have been submitted to the Dept. of Education. The goal of the group is “to look at whether states are going...
Colorado’s ESSA Plan Gets High Marks
March 29, 2017
This article was originally published on RealClearEducation. Thanks to an inclusive and well-designed approach, Colorado is among a small group of states that will meet an April 3 deadline to submit plans to implement new federal education legislation. Participants and outside observers have praised the...
Polikoff Stresses Importance of Accountability in Education System
March 28, 2017
Morgan Polikoff, education researcher and associate professor at USC’s Rossier School of Education, reflects on the importance of accountability in our education system and the need to stay the course as more education reforms may be on the horizon with a new Congress and new...
Robert Pianta Emphasizes Importance of Teacher Prep
March 27, 2017
Robert Pianta, dean and professor at the University of Virginia’s School of Education, authored an opinion piece in the Huffington Post on the recent decision to overturn regulations under ESSA. Pianta argued that eliminating teacher regulations and budget proposals “not only signal a retreat from...
March 22, 2017
Chester E. Finn, Jr., president emeritus of the Fordham Institute and vice president of the Maryland State Board of Education, authored an opinion piece on Maryland lawmakers’ efforts to “prevent the State Board of Education from installing a new school-accountability system that prioritizes pupil achievement...
Ed Week Releases Webpage Recording DeVos School Visits and Impact on ESSA
March 22, 2017
Education Week released a webpage recording all visits Betsy DeVos has made to schools and the coverage of comments she has made on the impact of ESSA. Education Week will “note the name and location of the school” and “link to any coverage” DeVos discusses.
Ohio Listens and Delays Its ESSA Plan
March 20, 2017
This article was originally published on RealClearEducation. Making good on a promise to heed public input, Ohio’s top education official announced last week that he would delay submitting a federally-required education plan. “The submission of the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) response should be...
Ed Week Highlights U.S. Dept. of Education’s New Application for States under ESSA
March 13, 2017
Education Week highlighted the release of the U.S. Dept. of Education’s new application for states to use as they put together their accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The article takes a look at how the new template differs from the previous version...
Three Accountability Mistakes States are Making While Drafting ESSA Plans
March 6, 2017
David Griffith, research and policy associate at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, explained the three “accountability mistakes” states are making while drafting ESSA implementation plans. Griffith argued while there are debates on the “best way to evaluate a school’s performance,” there are several key ideas...
The Use of Education Research under ESSA
March 2, 2017
Thomas J. Kane, professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, authored an essay in Education Next on the use of “education research” under ESSA. Kane argued that states will need a “scalable model of impact evaluation” to make evidence based changes to school improvement efforts. He encouraged education leaders to have “long term vision”...
Teach Plus Fellow Stresses the Important Opportunities Under ESSA
February 27, 2017
Sarah White, fifth grade teacher and Teach Plus Illinois Teaching Policy Fellow, stressed the important opportunity that states have under ESSA to “reinvent professional development practices.” White called for the usage of Title II funds to “focus on developing and implementing long-term, teacher-led, and selected opportunities for...
Positive Outcomes of ESSA and the Use of Education Technology
February 23, 2017
Doug Mesecar, vice president of strategic partnerships for IO Education, authored an opinion piece in EdScoop on the positive outcomes of ESSA and the use of education technology. Mesecar argued that education technology can be used to alter the “stubborn, teach-to-the-middle, manufacturing-based approach to modern schooling.” He outlined five areas where technology can help...
The Importance of Teacher Leadership Under ESSA
February 15, 2017
Massachusetts ESL teacher and Teach Plus Greater Boston Teaching Policy Fellow Alicia Serafin authored an opinion piece in the Huffington Post on the importance of teacher leadership under ESSA. Serafin encouraged states to “seize this opportunity” to “encourage, develop, and promote teachers to continue to...
Harvard Professor Evaluates the Use of State Efficiency Networks through ESSA Funding
February 14, 2017
Thomas Kane, professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, authored an essay in Education Next, on the use of “state efficiency networks” through ESSA funding. Kane argued that policymakers who use ESSA’s evidence-based opportunities will create a “lasting legacy” for improving...
NYC Leadership Academy Irma Zardoya Emphasizes Importance of Equity Under ESSA
February 10, 2017
Irma Zardoya, President and CEO of the NYC Leadership Academy, wrote an opinion piece in Education Week on the importance of equity under ESSA. Zardoya highlighted how some states are “considering how to make teachers more representative of the students in their classrooms” by examining...
Hirsh Calls for Stakeholders to Stay Engaged in ESSA Implementation
January 26, 2017
Learning Forward’s Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh authored a piece in Education Week on professional learning under ESSA. Hirsh stated she is “more optimistic” for local communities to “create learning systems” that work to improve professional programs. Hirsh encouraged stakeholders to stay engaged in ESSA implementation...
Ed Week Highlights ESSA as a Key Policy Area to Watch Under Trump
January 23, 2017
Education Week highlighted the implementation of ESSA as one of the “six key policy areas to watch under Trump.” States are scheduled to implement plans in the 2017-2018 school year, and the new administration will be in charge of approving final outlines. The piece also...
17 States and D.C. Plan to Submit Final ESSA Plans by April
January 13, 2017
According to Education Week, 17 states and the District of Columbia are working to submit their final ESSA plans by the April deadline. Aside from DC, the states include Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota,...
Miami University Professors Discuss Importance of School Climate Under ESSA
January 11, 2017
In a joint opinion piece for The 74, Amity Noltemeyer, associate professor in educational psychology, and Andrew Saultz, assistant professor of educational leadership at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, discussed the importance of school climate under ESSA. Noltemeyer and Saultz argued that ESSA can provide...
Leveraging ESSA for Professional Learning System Improvement
January 5, 2017
Executive Director of Learning Forward, Stephanie Hirsh, authored a piece in Education Week on leveraging ESSA for professional learning system improvement. Due to the several mentions of professional development within the act’s language, Hirsh argued this is an “indication that Congress recognizes its importance achieving...
Condoleezza Rice Gives ESSA Advice to Local Leaders
January 4, 2017
In an interview with The 74, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was asked about advice she would give to local leaders who are making decisions under ESSA. Rice encouraged states to set high standards for students and teachers and to give parents a choice....
Ed Week Releases Quality Counts 2017 Annual Report
January 4, 2017
Education Week released the Quality Counts 2017 annual report on the progress of state ESSA implementation. According to the report, the nation received and overall grade of “C” for states’ efforts. Mark Bomster, an assistant managing editor at Education Week commented that the report, “examines a...
Educators Take Advantage of Opportunities ESSA Presents
January 3, 2017
Members of the Rodel Teacher Council are calling on their fellow Delaware educators to help state and local policymakers develop plans for how they will comply the ESSA. “As education practitioners and leaders, we must take advantage of this opportunity to inform our state’s plan on...
Leveraging ESSA to Ensure Student Success
January 1, 2017
Community leaders, parents and educators “must use ESSA to leverage their desire to see students succeed,” by taking a more proactive role in the state education plan development process according to The Florida Star. Columnist Edward Gaston argues that, “staying engaged is necessary and essential...
Ensuring Equity Back in State Hands
December 19, 2016
Amidst the “upheaval in D.C.,” states are staying focused on ESSA implementation, according to The 74 Million. The piece argued that while ESSA puts the “work of ensuring equity largely back in state hands,” a change in administration could mean a “certain loss of federal...
Co-founder of New Leaders Explains How ESSA Can Revitalize the Role of the Principal
December 19, 2016
The 74 Million conducted an interview with Benjamin Fenton, co-founder of New Leaders, on how ESSA can help schools revitalize the role of the principal. In the interview, Fenton explains that he hopes expanded flexibility will give leaders “more of a role” in accountability plans...
Letter Calls on Community Members and Teachers to Get Involved in ESSA Implementation
December 13, 2016
A letter to the editor in the Topeka Capital Journal calls on “community members and teachers to get involved and gain leadership” as the state develops its ESSA implementation plan. Noting that policymakers must “look critically at all aspects… that influence learning,” the letter says...
ESSA Regulations Are New Target of Congressional Review
December 13, 2016
Regulations on teacher preparation under ESSA could be the main target of congressional review, according to Education Week. If the regulations are removed, “it could make it tougher for states to finish their ESSA plans.” The article argued to “keep the momentum going” and that...
States Tussle with Local Leaders Concerning ESSA Plans
December 13, 2016
Education Week observed states encountering problems when constructing ESSA plans. Various states like Colorado and Indiana are “tussling with local leaders” on “flexibility in areas like accountability and assessments to school board members.” According to the piece, conflicts like this will “likely escalate and multiply”...
How will the Incoming Trump Administration Handle ESSA?
December 13, 2016
Education Week examined various regulations under ESSA, providing details about what both the law and final regulations say. The piece raised that it is “unclear whether the incoming Trump administration and Congress” will try to “keep these regulations on the books, make changes to them,...
Congress Expected to Face Wide Range of Education Issues
December 12, 2016
According to Education Week, Congress will face a wide range of education issues in the upcoming session. Final ESSA regulations will come into question as members may rule the Obama administration had gone “beyond the scope of the law.” The fate of testing regulations, accountability...
Honeymoon is Over – What’s Next for ESSA?
December 5, 2016
With the election of Donald Trump, Education Week looked at the relationship between the GOP and “education practitioners,” asking if “the honeymoon [between the two] is over” and looking at how that might affect ESSA. A Republican Senate aide said, “The K-12 era [in Washington] is...
How will the Trump Administration Impact ESSA?
November 16, 2016
Education Week released a series of articles unpacking the impact that the incoming Trump administration could have on the implementation of ESSA. How Trump will tackle ESSA under his new administration. The piece argued that lawmakers can use the Congressional Review Act to their advantage...
Are Forced Teacher Transfers Allowed Under ESSA?
November 7, 2016
Education Week looked at the issue of “forced teacher transfers” and whether they are permitted under ESSA’s proposed spending rules. While the actual rules state, “Nothing in this section should be construed to require the forced or involuntary transfer of any school personnel,” American Federation...
November 1, 2016
The Collaborative for Student Success hosted a tele-press conference featuring Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and New Mexico Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera. Both Markell and Skandera discussed how high standards are working in their states, and addressed ESSA as an opportunity for states to improve...
New Clarity on How Funds can be Spent on Federal Programs
November 1, 2016
Education Week covered the Dept. of Education’s release of guidance on Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants – which provides clarity around how funds can be spent on federal programs aimed at health, safety, the arts, and technology. The department’s overall message underscored that a...
Future President May Encounter Difficulties in Efforts to Micromanage School Reform
October 29, 2016
An election brief in The Economist notes that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton seem inclined to “micromanage school reform,” unlike the previous two occupants of the Oval Office. According to the piece, ESSA “hands back power to states over standards and tests” making it...
Does New Data Accurately Showcase Teacher Value?
October 25, 2016
Following the release of the Dept. Of Education’s final teacher preparation rules, Education Week examined concerns of “how the new requirements will be applied” and “how effective they will ultimately be.” Under the new rules, states are required to “rate teacher-prep programs annually” in the...
Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss Questions ESSA’s Intent
October 24, 2016
The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss reprinted a blog from Connecticut College Education Department Chair Lauren Anderson University of Washington Professor of Teacher Education Ken Zeichner that questions inconsistences with ESSA’s original intent. According to the authors, the new regulations require states to “hold teacher-education programs...
ESSA Creates New Ways for Schools to Educate Children
October 24, 2016
The Hechinger Report questioned whether states will provide students with a “high quality, equitable education” under ESSA. The piece noted that ESSA can “serve as a catalyst” to “super-charge” new ways for schools to educate children, and highlighted the plans states must submit to the...
Recommendations to Ensure a Well-Rounded Education for All Students
October 21, 2016
Education Week examined new guidelines for the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program under ESSA. The piece highlighted the Dept. of Education’s recommendations on how funds can be spent for a “well-rounded education.” Part of a student’s educational experience can comprise of music and...
New Opportunities for Young Learner Programs
October 20, 2016
Education Week reported on the Dept. of Education’s guidance on funding young learner programs under ESSA. The piece identified various options for federal funds to be used for young learners including: 1, training early learning teachers; 2, updating and aligning certification and licensing standards for...
Expectations Under ESSA for English Language Learners
October 18, 2016
Under ESSA, schools will be required to make significant changes for English language learners as reported by Education Dive. States will need to “create a uniform process” when identifying English learners to “assign them services” and then transition them into a “general education system.” States...
Personnel Committed to Helping Homeless Students Achieve
October 16, 2016
The 74 Million reported on lawmakers’ efforts to “track and improve outcomes of displaced students” under ESSA. Under the new act, schools will need to “hire personnel who are adequately prepared to help homeless students achieve.” Additionally, districts will be required to assign federal dollars...
Anticipation Mounts for What Positive Changes ESSA will Bring
October 15, 2016
In Education Week, Larry Ferlazzo blogged about his radio interview with education leaders on whether ESSA will bring positive changes to the classroom. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten argued that what happens in the classroom will greatly depend on how states “embrace the...
How will the “Ultra-Politicized Climate” Impact Assessments Under ESSA?
October 11, 2016
Rafael Heller, principle policy analyst for Jobs for the Future, wrote in Education Week about the challenges that states face with assessments under ESSA, arguing that they are less about the “technical demand of designing and scoring performance tasks,” and more about the “politics of...
Why Maximizing ESSA’s Potential is Crucial for Student Success
October 10, 2016
Liam Goldrick, director of policy for the New Teacher Center, wrote on the importance of maximizing ESSA’s potential for students and schools. Goldrick argued ESSA has the potential to “bring greater balance to our schools” and “drive equity in education.” The New Teacher Center has...
October 9, 2016
James Nehring, an associate professor of education at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, authored an opinion piece on the regulatory problems facing ESSA, stating that the implementation of the law will “inevitably corrupt the law’s intent.” The use of “standards as regulatory tools,” or accountability systems,...
Vice Presidential Candidate’s Past Positions on Education Policy
October 5, 2016
Following the Vice Presidential debate, Education World published an article highlighting the candidates’ past positions on education, including ESSA. Sen. Tim Kaine has been an advocate for “career and technical education,” and sought to include related programs in ESSA “to improve access to K-12 career...
Education World’s Top 4 Takeaways on ESSA Guidlines
October 4, 2016
Education World reviewed recent ESSA guidelines released by the Dept. of Education and complied their four top takeaways. They concluded that the guidelines clarify the definition of homeless youth; address foster youth; pressure states to align standards for English learners to state content standards; and...
What Does ESSA Mean for School Testing?
September 30, 2016
A brief in the Wall Street Journal highlights what ESSA means for school testing, noting that under ESSA “states will set academic standards and determine consequences for not meeting them.” The article notes that NCLB was “blamed for ushering in a climate of overtesting” and...
Next Steps for the Opt-Out Movement
September 30, 2016
The Wall Street Journal examined next steps for the opt-out movement, which “lost a major battle” with the implementation of ESSA and continues to challenge the 95 percent participation rule. Under the new law, states are required to test 95% of students so they do...
Krieger Argues that the 95% Student Participation Rate in ESSA is a “Typographical Error”
September 30, 2016
Nick Krieger, author of a guest blog on Education Week, calls into question the 95 percent student participation rate in ESSA based on a “typographical error” in the legislation. Krieger argues, “while the ESSA unquestionably requires the states to administer yearly assessments in mathematics and...
Can ESSA Help Improve Homeless Student’s Learning Experiences?
September 29, 2016
In a recent interview with City Lab, Barbara Duffield, the director of policy and programs for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, discussed her belief that ESSA can help improve homeless student’s learning experiences. ESSA creates new provisions so that...
New Programs Aimed at Boosting Moral Among Teachers
September 28, 2016
Education Dive highlighted the Dept. of Education’s recent recommendations on ESSA’s ability to recruit quality educators. The brief acknowledged that “morale is lowest” among teachers who feel that they “have no control over school decision-making,” and noted that Title II funds should be spent for...
ESSA Presents Opportunity to Transistion From a Compliance Mentality to an Innovative One
September 28, 2016
ESSA presents new opportunities to K-12 companies to help school districts “purchase more education technology and other instructional services,” reports EdWeek’s Market Brief. Governor Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, said that the new law “permits us to move from a compliance...
5 Guidelines for Supporting Multiple Pathways into the Teaching Profession
September 28, 2016
Education World examined the Dept. of Education’s recent guidance on recruiting and retaining educators under ESSA. The piece highlighted the five guidelines provided by the Dept. and highlights that states are encouraged to use funds to “support multiple pathways into the teaching profession,” including residency...
Two Fishman Prize Winners Raise Concerns About ESSA Rules and Regualtions
September 27, 2016
Two Fishman Prize winners, Erica Mariola and Evelyn Rebollar, shared their opinions about ESSA rules and regulations on TNTP’s blog. Both teachers “raised complex questions about the use of these types of assessments that states may wish to consider when deciding their state testing plans.”
States Put Communities Back in the Driver’s Seat
September 27, 2016
Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, wrote an opinion piece on the opportunities for states and schools to make “better choices” for students of color under ESSA. Henderson argued that under the new law, states need to...
Proposed Increase on Tracking and Reporting for English Learners
September 23, 2016
Education Week and Politico reported on the Dept. of Education’s guidance for English learners under ESSA. In addition to highlighting the allowance of Title III funds to help expand these programs, Education Week noted that states must track the performance of former EL students to...
States Begin Preparing Accountability System Plans Under ESSA
September 20, 2016
Education Week highlighted states preparing their accountability system plans under ESSA. The piece focused on K-12 officials who are concerned over the “relatively tight timeline for identifying schools that need fundamental overhauls.” States are working to develop these plans before the March or July 2017...
Hammond Calls for Evaluation of School Funding Laws
September 20, 2016
In a recent interview with Ed Surge, Linda Darling Hammond, founder of the Learning Policy Institute, argued that while strong schools are present in the United States, new state plans under ESSA could “become punitive if they rely on a test-based approach with sanctions” or...
Concern Raised With Time Required to Develop Testing Systems Under ESSA
September 20, 2016
Education Week released a policy snapshot covering the recently-released sets of proposed regulations from the Dept. of Education on assessments under ESSA. Comments on the regulations focused on the Innovative Assessment Pilot, which allows some states to use local tests for accountability purposes. The piece...
Here are 3 Storylines to Follow ESSA’s “Supplement, not Supplant” Rules
September 19, 2016
Ed Surge released three storylines for readers to follow surrounding ESSA’s “supplement, not supplant” rules. The first narrative, “A Tangled Bureaucracy” focuses on the new rules under the proposed measure. Ed Surge says that while these rules were well-intentioned, ESSA is not being made simpler...
Hirsh Raises 5 Critical Questions About ESSA
September 19, 2016
Stephanie Hirsh, executive director of Learning Forward, raises five questions on how ESSA can improve professional development and learning. Hirsh argues that education leaders who “prioritize building systems for professional learning will be best positioned to leverage ESSA to achieve excellence and equity in every...
Mathis and Trujillo Argue that ESSA is an Extension of NCLB
September 19, 2016
In a new book entitled Learning from the Federal Market-Based Reforms: Lessons for the Every Student Succeeds Act, William J. Mathis and Tina M. Trujillo argue that ESSA reinforces “a standardized test driven system that is punitive in nature” and the law is merely an extension...
What ESSA Means for Schools, Systems, and States
September 19, 2016
In Education Week, Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Max Eden, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argue that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton are putting forward “principled conservative leadership” when it comes to education. The...
New Additional Resources for Overworked Guidance Counselors under ESSA
September 16, 2016
An article in The Atlantic notes that, under ESSA, schools are eligible for grant funding to cover a range of “educational supports beyond classroom instruction, including college and career counseling.” The piece calls for additional resources for overworked guidance counselors in schools. ESSA authorizes over...
Fact Sheet Examining ESSA’s “Pay for Success” Provision
September 14, 2016
The Washington Post provides a fact sheet examining ESSA’s “Pay for Success” provision. Federal dollars can be used to partner with the private sector to “fund proven community-based solutions,” and to “incentivize for-profit educational endeavors significantly legitimizing and institutionalizing them.” The article cited concerns about...
Leaders Must Fully Understand ESSA to Make an Impact
September 14, 2016
The 2016 “Think Ahead” Conference, hosted by EdNET, will examine issues impacting K-12 education and the subsequent effects facing distributors. One of the goals of the conference is for leaders to fully understand ESSA and the legislation’s impact on “sectors with core curriculum, supplemental materials,...
The Growing Trend of States Using Title 1 Funds for Arts Education
September 13, 2016
Education Week’s Jackie Zubrycki reports there is a “growing trend” of states using Title I funds to support arts education, and supporters of the arts are hopeful ESSA will “encourage more schools to use federal funds to support arts education programs.” Under the law, the...
Lydia Kontos Makes Call for Increased Art Courses in Schools
September 12, 2016
In an opinion piece, Lydia Kontos, executive director for Kaufman Music Center, argued that under ESSA, schools are now “empowered” to support music programs. She called for schools to increase arts courses that in turn, can help students in other academic areas. With state control...
ESSA Expected to be Top Priority During Lawmakers’ 2017 Sessions
September 12, 2016
Education Week notes that, thanks to ESSA, a wave of “volatility of education politics could crest” over the next few years. Michelle Exstrom, education program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that state legislators are more “engaged [than] we’ve ever seen.” The...
Schools that Promote the Arts See Increase in School Attendance
September 9, 2016
Janice Gouldthorpe, executive director of New York’s Genesee Center for the Arts & Education, praised the implementation of arts education through ESSA. She argued schools that promote the arts see “students attend school more often, parents and families engage, dropout rates decrease, and grades increase.”...
Frederick Hess Asses What ESSA “Means in Practice”
September 8, 2016
Frederick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote an opinion piece on the various challenges in K-12 education, including ESSA. While ESSA removed a large amount of Washington oversight, Hess believes that the situation is now contingent upon what ESSA...
How will a Trump Administration Impact K-12 Funding?
September 8, 2016
In an analysis of Donald Trump’s Education Policy Speech, Education Week looks at the impact his policies could have on K-12 funding. The article notes that Trump’s comments about increasing defense spending could lead to policies that take away from the overall education budget, especially...
What if States Try to “Budget Outside the Lines?”
September 5, 2016
A Wall Street Journal editorial questions the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” regulations. The piece raises concern over additional funding increases needed to comply with the provision, as well as an increase in federal control that was “contrary to what Congress intended.” According...
Ed Week Outlines Dept. of Education’s Proposed Funding Rules
August 31, 2016
Education Week outlines the details of the Dept. of Education’s proposed funding rules. In addition to highlighting the stakeholders and leaders who have weighed in on the proposed rules, the piece notes there are several exceptions with regard to Title I funding, including clarifications for...
Is ESSA the Better Version of NCLB?
August 30, 2016
In conjunction with the Education Writers Association, the National Press Club sponsored panels on K-12 and higher education in relation to the 2016 elections. Panelist Andy Smarick, a partner at Bellwether Education Partners and former education official in the Bush administration, argued the interpretation of...
How ESSA’s Spending Rules Compare to Dept. of Education’s Guidance to States
August 24, 2016
An in-depth article in Education Week delves into how ESSA’s spending rules compare with the Dept. of Education’s “guidance distributed to states in July 2015 about how federal money should be used as a supplement for school budgets.” The guidance functions as a “window into...
Addressing the Inequities of School Building Conditions Under ESSA
August 18, 2016
A blog post from Dr. Angel Ford, a research associate with the Education Facilities Clearinghouse, argues that the flexibility in ESSA can be used to “address the inequities of school building conditions” despite the law not explicitly mentioning the issue. Dr. Ford references a “clarion...
Polikoff’s Letter Encourages Regulators to Look Beyond the State-defined Proficiency Threshold
August 17, 2016
University of Southern California Associate Professor of Education Morgan Polikoff wrote a blog post which details his letter to the U.S. Dept. of Education regarding ESSA regulations, and encourages regulators to look beyond “the state-defined proficiency threshold” when formalizing its regulations. He notes that the...
Summative Ratings vs. Data Dashboards for Schools
August 17, 2016
Scott Sargrad, director for standards and accountability at the Center for American Progress, wrote in U.S. News & World Report that a divide is emerging between proponents of using of summative ratings for schools and proponents of implementing data dashboards. Sargrad encourages states to think...
States Take Steps to Ensure a “Well Rounded Education”
August 12, 2016
Several states including New Hampshire, Michigan, and Florida are “experimenting with new standardized tests in the arts.” ESSA includes arts as part of a “well rounded education.” The Director of Educational Policy for the Educational Theatre Association Jim Palmarini argues that “assessments in art subjects...
Will Higher Education’s Other Pressures Undercut ESSA’s Promises?
August 12, 2016
In a piece from Education Week, Arnold Shober, an associate professor of Government at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, writes that ESSA “promotes higher education as a primary destination after K-12” but “higher education’s other pressures may undercut ESSA’s promises.” Questions about the purpose of...
Ed Week Evaluates How ESSA will Affect the Education Industry
August 10, 2016
As part of the Inside ESSA Webinar Series, Education Week will be hosting an online forum discussing the implications of ESSA’s implementation on education companies. The webinar will delve into how the law is being implemented and how it affects organizations working in the education...
Senior Fellow at Manhattan Institute Presents 5 Ways ESSA Can Help Students
August 5, 2016
Max Eden, a senior fellow of education policy at the Manhattan Institute, wrote a guest blog for Education Week on what the “ESSA epoch” means for students. Noting that “education reform [has been] the civil rights struggle of our time,” Eden writes that “the passions...
Dr. Wayne Wright of Purdue University Wants to see the Flexibility in ESSA
August 4, 2016
Writing that English learners will “by definition always fail to meet grade-level standards,” Dr. Wayne Wright of Purdue University wants to see the flexibility in ESSA used to create an accountability system to benefit these students. Dr. Wright argues that the “overall framework of NCLB...
Bill Bennett Introduces New Group: Conservative Leader For Educators
July 28, 2016
Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett authored an opinion piece on Fox News last week announcing Conservative Leaders for Education, a new group that is calling on conservatives to raise their voices in the debate around education reform and ESSA. Bennett explains how this group,...
State Legislators Take Advantage of the Flexibility Provided by ESSA
July 26, 2016
Education Week reported on the announcement of Conservative Leaders for Education (CL4E) – a group of state legislators who believe now is the time to take advantage of the flexibility provided by ESSA, led by former Education Secretary William Bennett. According to Bennett, CL4E’s goals...
“Edfintech” Industry Applauds ESSA’s Pilot Program
July 24, 2016
At the recent Future of Education Finance Summit, representatives from the “edfintech” industry – an “intersection of education, finance and technology” – spoke with education funding experts and nonprofit representatives about how their products could help their schools comply with ESSA’s financial reporting requirements, according...
Advocacy Group to Provide Advising on How to Comply with ESSA
July 22, 2016
Under ESSA’s “authorizing provisions,” school libraries are slated to receive an increase in federal support, according to Publishers Weekly. To receive the support, states will need to submit a state implementation plan to the Dept. of Education that is compliant with federal “education laws, administrative...
ESSA’s Non-academic Indicator Proves to be Vital to How Students Learn
July 22, 2016
K. Brooke Stafford-Brizard, a senior adviser to Turnaround for Children, discussed the benefit of ESSA’s non-academic indicator requirements in Education Week. She argues that these requirements allow states to use non-academic metrics, like “self-regulation, problem-solving, social awareness, and growth mindset,” to measure student skill development....
NCTAF Teacher Contestants Agree on Three Main Points
July 18, 2016
According to Education Week, the National Commission of Teaching & America’s Future’s (NCTAF) Agents for Learning Competition asked teacher contestants to develop plans and present how they plan to utilize ESSA in the classroom. Of the finalists, three distinct points were continuously brought up: Teachers...
Provisions to Ensure Every Student Succeeds
July 13, 2016
Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, authored an article in The Hill highlighting the disproportionate funding between white students and students of color. Since programs for students of color often receive less funding than their white counterparts, legislation is needed...
Educator Improvement Funding Provisions are a Step in the Right Direction
July 13, 2016
California teacher T.D. Flenaugh writes in the Huffington Post that educator improvement funding provisions in ESSA are a “huge step in the right direction” when it comes to improving children’s education. With nearly $2 billion earmarked for teacher improvement, educators will now be able to...
Today’s Economy Calls for Both College Readiness and Career Readiness
July 13, 2016
Education Week reported on Jobs for the Future’s Voices for Opportunity and Economic Mobility summit in New Orleans. During the event, over 650 educators voiced their opinions on the overlap of college readiness and career readiness. There were four main takeaways from the event: While...
How will Politics Impact Education Reform?
July 8, 2016
Adam Edgerton, former director of the Dept. of Education’s Upward Bound Program, writes in Education Week that America’s decentralized view for government involvement in schools is similar to Britain’s reason for leaving the EU. Citing No Child Left Behind and its successor ESSA, Edgerton says...
Teacher Leader Credits ESSA for It’s Ability to Help Undeserved Students
July 7, 2016
Anthony Hernandez, teacher leader for Educators 4 Excellence, discussed the current “supplement, not supplant” debate in an op-ed in The Hill. He argues that the provisions “have the potential to be deeply transformative for traditionally underserved students”, but ESSA’s requirement that districts explain how funds...
ESSA Provides More Flexibility than NCLB
July 7, 2016
Education Drive’s analysis of ESSA’s proposed guidelines and regulations for state testing show that, while there are still questions, there is more opportunity for test flexibility than under No Child Left Behind. ESSA “creates space for innovation” in testing, something discouraged under NCLB’s “Adequate Yearly...
States Use ESSA to Push Under-performing Schools
July 4, 2016
FOX News contributor Juan Williams writes in the Wall Street Journal that ESSA gives states the ability to hold schools accountable for their failures educating minority students. Noting that drop-out rates for African-American and Hispanic students are down, Williams says states can use ESSA to...
ESSA’s New Rules Address Most Pressing Issues with Impoverished Students
July 2, 2016
Elaine Weiss, national coordinator for the Broader Bolder Approach to Education, wrote in the Washington Post that ESSA has the potential to help impoverished students. Weiss argues that ESSA’s “parent and community engagement provisions… could become a tool for schools to diagnose root problems and...
June 29, 2016
According to Education Week, ESSA may make it more difficult for school districts to help low-income students pay for Advanced Placement exams. Right now, the “Advanced Placement Test Fee Program” receives $28.5 million annually from the federal government. Next year, the program will be rolled...
NWEA Enters the Statewide Assessments Market
June 20, 2016
The Northwest Evaluation Association will enter the statewide assessments market, according to an EdWeek Market Brief article, which describes that market as “more turbulent and potentially lucrative.” NWEA is known mostly for it Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, “an interim assessment taken by students...
How Will ESSA Impact the “Opt-Out” Movement?
June 19, 2016
Truth-Out.org analyzed the impact that ESSA will have on the “opt-out” movement. The article notes that Secretary King is “not respecting the voices of parents, teachers and students; doubling down on threats to financially punish students for boycotting tests; and digging in his heels to...
Provisions in ESSA Make Homeless Students a Priority
June 16, 2016
Provisions in ESSA will strengthen data collection to make homeless students more visible, reports The Atlantic. States and local school districts “will be required to disaggregate the graduation rates of homeless students for the first time in history.” According to the article, more than 1.3...
ESSA Provides New Opportunities for Homeless Students
June 13, 2016
According to NPR, ESSA “includes both new mandates and some extra money to assist districts in helping homeless students.” The law allocates a 20-percent funding increase for services to homeless students, and strengthens reporting mandates to track academic progress. Because the new reporting requirements involve...
States Now Have More Flexibility Thanks to ESSA
June 10, 2016
An article by the Hechinger Report discussed the negative legacy of NCLB and the impact it has had on the development of ESSA. The article notes, “With the passage of the ESSA, states are now in the midst of crafting their own new benchmarks and...
June 7, 2016
Education Week compiled a cheat sheet of what it considers to be some of the most important accountability issues addressed in ESSA and some of the reactions to the regulations ESSA proposes. The issues include school ratings, test participation, accountability indicators, student subgroups, consistently underperforming...
The “Military Student Identifier” Provision
June 6, 2016
ESSA now requires states to track military children as a “vulnerable subgroup” under the “military student identifier” provision, but The 74 Million reports that many states may be unprepared to comply with the regulation. States must now collect and report on “test scores, attendance and...
June 6, 2016
Education Week announced it will host a webinar titled, “ESSA and K-12 Policy: State and District Perspectives” examining how states and school districts will handle being “in the driver’s seat” on accountability, interventions for low-performing schools, flexibility on federal funding and testing, and where things...
Dept. of Ed Urges All Stakeholders to Voice Their Concerns About ESSA
June 4, 2016
A number of news outlets have covered the Dept. of Education “urging parents and other stakeholders to voice out their concerns about ESSA ahead of the formulation of its final regulations. An article by The Parent Herald notes that “Parents who care about their children’s...
How will ESSA Address States with High Opt-Out Rates?
May 31, 2016
Republican lawmakers and civil rights advocates continue to debate how ESSA will treat states with high opt-out rates. According to Education Week, the draft ESSA rules could be seen as an attempt by the Dept. of Education to closely control how states deal with relatively...
Holding Schools Accountable for More than Non-Academic Factors
May 30, 2016
According to The 74 Million, the Dept. of Education’s regulations propose holding schools accountable for more than non-academic factors. While the department’s regulations don’t propose a specific numerical weight for academic achievement, schools identified for comprehensive support can’t be removed from that status by improving...
Is Vector ARC the Better Alternative?
May 26, 2016
Justin Haskins, executive editor at The Heartland Institute, comments that under ESSA, schools have the option of using the ACT or SAT for their standardized testing. Alternatively, if the state chooses against their use of either, they are allowed to develop their own. Despite the...
Education Secretary John King Voices Support for “Supplement, Not Supplant”
May 24, 2016
The 74 Million reports that Education Secretary John King does not plan on backing away from the “supplement, not supplant” regulations within ESSA that require more reporting on district spending. These provisions have been heavily criticized by GOP lawmakers who view the provisions as government...
States to Count Former English Learners Toward the English Learner Subgroup
May 23, 2016
According to Delia Pompa, a senior fellow for education policy at the Migration Policy Institute, ESSA could allow states to count former English learners toward the English Learner subgroup for the first two years after they exit the category – which is used for accountability...
Nancy Zirkin Urges Dept of Ed to Advance Resource Equity For ESSA
May 17, 2016
Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president and director of policy at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, spoke at a press conference where she underscored why it is important for the Dept. of Education to advance resource equity under its rulemaking for ESSA. Read more...
Fordham Institute Hosts its Third Annual “Wonk-a-thon”
May 16, 2016
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute held its third annual “Wonk-a-thon” where this year eleven “wonks” authored articles on ESSA and choice. The eleven articles are up for a vote to determine which contained the best policy discussion. The winner will be selected on May 18....
ESSA will Take Quick and Intensive Action
May 12, 2016
Robert E. Slavin, Director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, commented that ESSA “is not self-activitating” and it will take “quick and intensive action, likely outside of government, to identify and publicize guides to programs meeting ESSA standards.”...
AFR Comments on the Implementation of ESSA
May 12, 2016
The American Federation of Teachers commented that while states acquire control over “accountability, resources, interventions and teacher evaluation systems” in 2017, “some states will mess up” with implementing the ESSA. Read more here.
Ed Week Examines the Effect ESSA will Have on Foster Kids
May 10, 2016
Education Week reports on the effect ESSA will have on foster kids, noting that while the new law will break out student-outcome data for this group (i.e. test scores and graduation rates) and keep them in their “school of origin,” there are still many unanswered...
Blank Discusses the Use of Non-Academic Indicators to Measure Accountability
May 9, 2016
Martin Blank, president of the Institute for Educational Leadership and Coalition for Community Schools, authored a piece in the Huffington Post discussing the use of non-academic indicators to measure accountability under ESSA. Blank concludes that if states choose the right kind of non-academic indicators to...
Eduction Week’s Take on New ESSA Requirements
May 9, 2016
Education Week breaks down new ESSA requirements for states and districts, which will help capture the types of instructional resources students have access to and whether they have qualified teachers, and a safe school environment. Read more here.
How Districts Can Utilize ESSA Funding for Technology
May 6, 2016
According to the nonprofit Computer Using Educators (CUE), in order for districts to utilize ESSA funding for technology, both the state and district plans must include specific line items to use the funds for education technology. Read more here.
GradNation Evaluates ESSA Definition of a Low-Graduation-Rate High School
May 5, 2016
GradNation found that, based on the ESSA definition of a low-graduation-rate high schools, 52 percent of high schools that are charter, virtual, or alternative will fall into this low graduation rate category. Read more here.
Majority of Principals Believe that ESSA will have a Neutral-Positive Effect
May 5, 2016
Northwest Evaluation Association and Gallup concluded that only half of school principals and superintendents are “familiar” with the new ESSA regulations. Of that, 91 percent believe that ESSA will have a neutral-positive effect students. Read more here.
2016 Teacher of the Year Honored to be Chosen During the Year of ESSA Implementation
May 3, 2016
During the White House announcement of the 2016 Teacher of the Year, Jahana Hayes mentioned she was honored to be chosen during the year of ESSA implementation. Hayes stated that the law “cements critical policies, like holding high standards for teaching and learning, while also...
Proposed “Teacher Preparation Rule”
May 2, 2016
The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities commented that the Administration’s proposed “teacher preparation rule” – which would have states collect information on teacher placement, retention, and impact on students – is “incongruent with the new Every Student Succeeds Act … which prohibits the...
Do Alternative Tests Under ESSA Meet National Requirements?
April 29, 2016
Stanford University professor Sean Reardon and his colleagues have completed a testing database of 40 million students that will help determine if alternative tests now allowed under ESSA meet nationally set requirements. Read more here.
Shareholders of Pearson PLC Reject Proposed Resolution
April 29, 2016
Shareholders of Pearson PLC, the world’s largest education company, “overwhelmingly rejected” a resolution that “sought a six-month business review of Pearson’s policies, including its ‘support of high-stakes testing.’” AFT said that parents opting out of Pearson-supported tests are one reason the company needs to shift...
ESSA Could Give the GOP Influence in State Plans’ Development
April 26, 2016
Education Week highlighted how the overall political landscape combined with ESSA’s shifting of power back to the states could give the GOP significant influence in the development of state plans. Read more here.
University of Maryland Ed Policy Experts Launch “#ESSA”
April 4, 2016
Two education policy experts from University of Maryland, Baltimore County, have launched “#ESSA,” a website to monitor “social network sentiment and discourse analysis” of the ESSA. View the website here.
Cardon’s Perspective as Former English Learner Could Drive Direction at Education Department
January 18, 2021
If confirmed, President JoeBiden’s pick for education secretary, Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona, would bring a perspective previously unseen in the role – that of a student whose first language was Spanish and who learned English primarily at school. As a former English learner, writes...
Reports Detail Recession’s Long-term Impact on Education Funding, Warns of Repeating Mistakes
January 15, 2021
Two reports released recently by the Education Law Center seek to provide further context for elected officials and policymakers about the dire stakes at hand as school districts brace for budget cuts. The first report provides an analysis of state and local education funding following...
Advocate Urges Schools and Districts to Prioritize Taking Attendance During Pandemic
December 18, 2020
Schools should be encouraged by state education agencies to take daily attendance during online and hybrid learning, says Attendance Works Executive Director Hedy Chang in a recent interview with FutureEd’s Phyllis Jordan. The pair discussed a new Attendance Works report focused on state attendance policies...
ESSA’s Long-Touted Flexibility Could Be Harming Equity Efforts, Says Report
December 10, 2020
A report released by the Alliance for Excellent Education found troubling signs in its analysis of 10 state accountability plans as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. The findings suggest that wide ranging flexibility built into the law may be undermining efforts...
How Districts Can Begin Preparing for Looming Budget Cuts
October 22, 2020
Long term financial considerations are quickly becoming a top concern for district and school leaders as federal stimulus discussions falter and local budget projections increasingly show massive shortfalls in communities across the nation. In reviewing lessons learned from the 2008 Great Recession and the resulting...
Inequities in Career and Technical Education Programs Revealed by New Analysis
October 22, 2020
An analysis of career and technical vocational (CTE) programs in middle and high schools by the Hechinger Report and Associated Press found deep inequities in the populations of students steered into various programs. Across 40 states, Black and Latino students were significantly less likely to...
Four Ways States Can Continue Building Mental Health Supports in Schools
October 21, 2020
Amid a steep rise in mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators, parents, and advocates are calling on states to find new ways to address students’ needs and build long-term, responsive health resources in schools. A set of recommendations from the Education Commission...
Association of Business Leaders Releases Education Priorities
October 16, 2020
Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies, recently issued a set of education recommendations for members of the business community, who the council says “can be part of the solution [to the opportunity gap] by investing further in programs that...
School Suspensions Drive Learning Loss in 28 Districts
October 14, 2020
A new study from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA describes how middle and high school students in 28 U.S. school districts lost more than a year of learning due to suspension, reports Linda Jacobson for the 74 Million. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act,...
Parent Details How Accountability Measures Have Helped Students With Disabilities
October 4, 2020
Writer and mom to a student who happens to have Down’s Syndrome, Vicki Vila discusses how accountability measures put into place by ESSA have helped and motivated schools to ensure a proper learning environment for students who receive special education services at a greater rate...
Pandemic Closures and Virtual Learning Complicate Policies on Attendance
September 25, 2020
This in-depth look at the progression of attendance policies in recent times details how, following the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, 36 states and the District of Columbia chose to use attendance as non-academic measures of success in their state accountability...
Theatre Director Highlights Renewed Need for Arts Education
September 22, 2020
According to youth theater director Shana Bestock, arts education can provide opportunities for students to develop key social and emotional learning skills and, even amid the pandemic, can still be creatively taught. Bestock shares some suggested ways to adapt theatre and music lessons in a...
Two New, Free On-Demand Resources to Empower Student Equity
August 31, 2020
In a partnership between the National School Boards Association and Learning Science International, two new resources have been developed that aim to help educators and school leaders empower students, increase equity, and drive student achievement. The resources specifically employ the concept of “Academic Teaming” and,...
State Personalized Learning Plans Need Common Definition, More Support, Researchers Say
August 26, 2020
Two researchers at the University of Kansas have released their analysis of state “personalized learning” policies, as demonstrated by each state’s ESSA accountability plan. The authors found little consensus on conceptual frameworks or definitions for how personalized learning models ought to be utilized in schools,...
Using “Common Sense” to Broaden Evidence Beyond ESSA
August 17, 2020
Nora Gordon and Carrie Conaway, authors of the new book “Common-Sense Evidence: The Education Leader’s Guide to Using Data and Research,” detail some of their most significant findings as they sought to clarify ESSA’s requirement that instructional interventions and programs adopted by schools be “evidence-based.”...
Using Data to Strengthen Arts Education During and After Pandemic
August 14, 2020
A partnership between the Education Commission of the States and the National Endowment of the Arts resulted in a toolkit designed to help school systems, education leaders, advocates, and researchers capitalize on publicly reported state education data to improve access to quality arts education. Under...
New Report Finds that More Than Half of School Buildings Lack Accessibility
July 27, 2020
A new report from the Government Accountability Office describes nearly two-thirds of American school buildings as lacking adequate access for students and staff with disabilities. Additionally, the report found that many districts have delayed projects that are critical for facilities to function, including roofing and...
Education Data and COVID-19 Recovery: Resources for Leaders
July 22, 2020
Two new reports from the Data Quality Campaign discuss the need for educational data as officials continue to make many, complex decisions amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in recovery. The first report focuses directly on the importance of transparency and provides clear ways that education...
School Bus Rides During a Pandemic: Considerations for States and Districts
July 8, 2020
Transportation has become a significant thorn in the sides of districts working to craft back-to-school plans for the fall, as officials struggle to identify workable solutions for social distancing, sanitation, and scheduling of fleets of busses. In order to meet guidelines released by the Center...
Investment in Social-Emotional Learning Means Investment in Academic Growth
June 29, 2020
Students’ social-emotional learning is being prioritized by education stakeholders more than ever before. That why in this Ed Surge article, Dr. Bill Daggett, “founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) and former teacher, administrator, and director with the New York State Education...
Think Tank Gives Guidance on how to Measure COVID Slide Learning Loss for EL Students
June 17, 2020
A new policy brief from the Migration Policy Institute “explores the policy and practical questions for states considering implementing native-language assessments,” which may more effectively measure student knowledge and allow educators to identify gaps in English-language instruction. The brief comes at a time when many...
New Report Outlines Growing Potential for a Principal Shortage and Policy Recommendations
May 14, 2020
According to a new report by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, a growing shortage of secondary school principals is “hampering the country’s efforts to provide quality educational opportunities for students.” Among the key findings, the new report found...
New Brookings Report Looks at NAEP Civics Results
April 27, 2020
In this new report, the Brookings Institution takes a look at the recent release of the National Center of Education Statistics’ results from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) civics assessment to answer whether public schools are living up to their “core mission”...
New Report Outlines Political Opposition to Standardized Testing, Future of Assessments
April 19, 2020
FutureEd just released a new report that examines the “bipartisan backlash against standardized testing in recent years” in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic. The report draws on a “new 50-state analysis of testing through 2019” to “examine the striking scale of the pushback...
One-Pager Outlines How States Can Leverage ESSA and Perkins V to Advance STEAM Education
February 10, 2020
A one-page policy outline released by the Education Commission of the States and the Arts Education Partnership provides a broad overview of how states and districts can support STEAM education efforts under Title IV of the Every Student Succeeds Act and Section 124(b)(16) of the...
Ed-Flex Program Provides Four States with Greater Flexibility to Implement Education Reforms
January 31, 2020
As Linda Jacobson reports for Education Dive, four states—Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Vermont—have been approved for the Education Flexibility Program, or Ed-Flex. “The program is intended to give states with ‘strong accountability safeguards’ the freedom to implement initiatives or reforms that might conflict with...
Heartland Institute Outlines Proposal for Child Safety Accounts
January 26, 2020
A new report by the Heartland Institute underscores the myriad school safety risks facing students today, proposing for “states to create a Child Safety Account (CSA) program, which would allow parents to immediately have their child moved to a safe school…as soon as parents think...
New Review Shows Louisiana Excels in Some Areas, Lags Behind in Others
January 24, 2020
“Louisiana is informing parents about school performance better than other states are,” according to the results of a review by the Alliance for Excellent Education. These results highlight how local schools are responding since the Every Student Succeeds Act was enacted. However, there remain a...
Using ESSA’s School Spending Requirement to Push for Equitable Funding
January 16, 2020
As the Education Trust reports, a new requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act for states to report school-level spending data provides a valuable opportunity for “parents, advocates, and other community members who can use it to push for fair funding in their local schools.”...
School Climate, Student Engagement Emerge as Factors to Measure Accountability
December 7, 2019
To comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act’s requirement for “states to include non-academic factors in judging schools’ performance,” three-quarters of the states “added student absenteeism to their accountability systems.” However, as a new report from FutureEd details, some states are also using annual surveys...
DQC Says Teacher Data Should Be Included in State Report Cards
November 12, 2019
“To improve student learning, an effective teacher in the classroom is the most important factor,” writes the Data Quality Campaign. “Every student, regardless of their zip code deserves access to a good teacher.” But to make this happen, teacher data is critical; unfortunately, school-level teacher...
New Playbook Provides Educators Path to Meeting ESSA Funding and Finance Requirements
November 11, 2019
The December 2019 ESSA deadline for “school districts to start breaking out school-level funding” is quickly approaching. As schools nationwide come to terms with the financial challenges of meeting this deadline, “streamlining and modernizing” systems with “enhanced automation will have payoffs that supersede the requirements...
Recent ESSA Report Highlights Five Ways to Prioritize Evidence-Based Decision-Making
November 7, 2019
A new ESSA report released by Results for America “suggests that when it comes to using evidence to improve schools, state and local leaders don’t always have to go for the most demanding option.” The report includes “five ways to prioritize evidence in state and...
New Independent Study Confirms ST Math® Program Meets ESSA Tier 2 Standards
October 15, 2019
A “first-of-its-kind independent review” conducted by non-profit research center SRI International confirmed an earlier “2018 WestEd study on ST Math meets Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 2” standards. ST Math is a visual instructional program developed by MIND Research Institute. The program “leverages the...
Education Week’s Guide to New School-by-School Spending Mandate
October 8, 2019
This piece from Education Week provides an easy-to-follow guide to “what ESSA’s new data-reporting mandate means for different players in the education community.” As opposed to focusing on “per-pupil spending,” ESSA “requires states for the first time to break out how much districts spend on...
States Struggling to Live Up to Law on Foster Students
October 2, 2019
“Under federal law, states are required to help maintain a stable educational environment for youth in foster care, even when the children’s personal lives are in tumult,” writes Rebecca Klein for Huffington Post. “But most places are struggling to follow the law, according to a...
Early-Childhood More Segregated than K-12 Programs
October 1, 2019
In Education Dive, Linda Jacobson reports on how early-childhood programs of all kinds are “twice as likely as kindergarten and 1st-grade classrooms to have all black or all Hispanic children,” and are “also less likely to be ‘somewhat integrated’ with 10-20% of children being black...
When Summative and Formative Markets Collide
September 26, 2019
“What happens when the $1.3 billion state summative assessment market begins to merge with the growing $1.6 billion market for formative assessments?” asks David DeSchryver in Ed Surge. “Investors and the education community are closely watching emerging models and how they could shape the markets...
Is District-Level Control the “Essence” of ESSA?
September 23, 2019
In this piece, Adam Kirk Edgerton explores the relationship between state education departments and the districts they oversee in the ESSA context. “Since 2015, a team of faculty and graduate student researchers at the Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL) has collected a...
September 23, 2019
ESSA “was designed to remedy the wrongs” of NCLB, Andrew Saultz, Jack Schneider, and Karalyn McGovern write in the Phi Delta Kappan. But the law has failed to live up to its promise. The trio argue that this is the result of the U.S. Department...
School Officials “Get Personal” in Fighting Absenteeism
September 18, 2019
In Education Dive, Shawna De La Rosa takes a look at how school districts and administrators are using innovative methods to fight absenteeism—from “going door-to-door to talk with students and their families about the importance of going to school, to sending text messages and automated...
Effective Teachers = Culturally Responsive Teachers
September 17, 2019
“In education, when we hear the word ‘data, our minds often wander to a score that represents how a student performs in Math or English Language Arts,” writes Joshua Ddamulira for the Data Quality Campaign. What gets less attention, however, is “sensemaking,” the “practice of decoding...
Connecting Schools with Art Resources
September 13, 2019
Linda Jacobson reports in Education Dive about Ingenuity, a Chicago arts education advocacy organization that has created Artlook—an online tool that “connects schools with arts organizations wanting to partner with them.” Ingenuity is collaborating with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to...
Easing Transition to Kindergarten
September 12, 2019
Linda Jacobson reports that New America has put forth “two fresh resources” to help make transitioning to kindergarten easier. The first is “a set of four profiles describing schools and districts taking a comprehensive approach to this major transition.” The “second resource details state, federal and other...
ESSA Complicating Rural School Turnaround Efforts?
September 10, 2019
“As rural districts work to turn around struggling schools identified for improvement under the Every Student Succeeds Act, they face the challenge of finding evidence-backed strategies that actually work in their particular contexts,” writes Evie Blad in Education Week. “Rural school systems often enroll relatively...
ESSA’s Impact on State Assessment Landscape
September 8, 2019
State standardized testing is changing rapidly in the post-No Child Left Behind era. A new report, The New Testing Landscape: How State Assessments are Changing Under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act, from FutureEd explores emerging trends, including the expanded use of college entrance exams for high...
Districts Struggling to Find Evidence-Backed ESSA Strategies
September 7, 2019
In this follow-up piece to an article we covered last week, EdWeek Market Brief’s Michelle R. Davis says that “school districts are searching for education vendors whose products have evidence to highlight their effectiveness, but it’s often a struggle for them to find a match.”...
Supporting Health and Wellness
August 30, 2019
Last month, the Healthy Schools Campaign released a new report that takes a look at how states are supporting SEL and student well-being under ESSA, which “highlights the importance of equitable access to quality education and the conditions that support student learning, and provides new...
New Data Tool Demonstrates College and Career Readiness Gap
August 28, 2019
“Researchers probing a new, interactive ‘data explorer’ that matches students’ outcomes with college and career readiness measures found that—while nearly all students are graduating from high school in some states—fewer than half are considered ready for college or careers,” reports Michele Molnar for EdWeek Market Brief. “The digital database, released...
CEP Releases ESSA Evidence Report
August 27, 2019
Last week, the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University released a report (District Leader Interviews: How School Districts are Responding to ESSA’s Evidence Requirements for School Improvement), which is the second in a series examining the implementation of ESSA’s evidence-based school improvement approaches...
August 27, 2019
Recently, the Wallace Foundation released the final in a series of six reports that “identifies an array of activities—in youth arts, learning and enrichment, and school leadership—backed by research rigorous enough to make them eligible for federal ESSA funding.” Click here to see the most...
The Importance of School-Level Spending Data
August 26, 2019
“Thousands of administrators across the country have spent countless hours this summer attempting to rejigger their school finance software to determine how much money they spend on each individual school—a new reporting requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act,” writes Daarel Burnette II in Education...
ESSA Can Help Those Who Need More Get More
August 20, 2019
“Students who need more should get more,” writes Ramin Taheri, Director of Advocacy and Policy for Chiefs for Change. The most direct way to make this happen is through student-based budgeting—and ESSA could help. The federal law “includes a provision allowing flexibility for local education...
Understanding ESSA’s Tiers of Evidence
August 20, 2019
Even though Congress passed ESSA four years ago, one part of the law is still challenging for schools is evidence-based interventions and materials tiers, writes Stacey Pusey. But an Ohio Department of Education initiative could help serve as a guide. In this piece, Eben Dowell,...
State Identification Systems and Improving Equity
August 15, 2019
As a result of the switch from NCLB to ESSA, “state leaders are attempting to create an identification system within their states that meet the U.S. Department of Education’s requirements, but that also balances their resources and values,” writes Nikole Gregg. “Their task has become...
ESSA and Empowering Educator Voices on Policy
August 12, 2019
Over at Educators for High Standards, South Carolina 2nd grade teacher Stephanie M. Johnson explains how ESSA is empowering the educator voice in policymaking. This was a great start, she says, as ESSA “encouraged states and district to move toward a model of shared decision...
States Leading the Way on Innovative Community Schools
August 1, 2019
With community schools gaining attention (and ground) in the education space, Brookings’ Reuben Jacobson takes a look at how states are leading the way in innovating for such schools, which “engage families and community organizations to provide well-rounded support to students.” In recent years, he...
July 31, 2019
Jane Porath, an 8th grade mathematics teacher at Traverse City East Middle School in Michigan and a Educators for High Standards Teacher Champion, takes on the complex issue of fairness versus equity in education funding.. The Every Students Succeeds Act requires states to track and...
Innovative Assessments Beyond ESSA Pilot
July 24, 2019
With only four states taking advantage of ESSA’s innovative assessment pilot, are innovative assessments “dead in the water” ask Bonnie O’Keefe and Brandon Lewis in The 74. Their answer? A definitive “no.” The four states taking part in the ESSA pilot—Louisiana, New Hampshire, Georgia, and...
The Long Journey of “Whole Child Education”
July 21, 2019
“What does a ‘whole child education’ mean to educators?” ask David Griffith and Sean Slade of ASCD in EdSurge. “To some it references providing nutritious food or breakfast in the classroom. To others it focuses on mental health and developmental social and emotional learning skills.”...
Helping Students With Disabilities Get Ready for Work
July 17, 2019
In this piece in The 74, Karla Phillips and Travis Pillow provide recommendation to help students with disabilities graduate ready for college and careers. Here’s a summary of action steps states can take to improve employment outcomes for these students: “Create an annual ‘State of...
Schools Prioritize Safer, Healthier Schools Via ESSA Grants
July 8, 2019
According to recently released survey data regarding ESSA Title IV-A spending, which was sponsored by the School Superintendents Association, the National Association of Federal Program Administrators, the Association of Educational Service Agencies, the Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO), Whiteboard Advisors, and the Title...
June 24, 2019
Last month, in this guest ECS post, Advance CTE’s Senior Policy Associate Austin Estes examined the latest research on, as well as state examples of, work-based learning as it has been put into practice. “While work-based learning is often delivered at the local level in...
Helping School Leaders Spend Wisely
June 23, 2019
In Education Next, Marguerite Roza, Director of the Edunomics Lab and a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, takes a look at education finance—and considers the question of why most people “jump to the revenue side of the equation”? The “spending...
Helping Military Students in the Classroom
June 20, 2019
In this Military Times piece, Military Families for High Standards examines how we can all help military-connected students achieve in the classroom. The article notes that there “are many resources for educators on best practices for how to create a welcoming learning environment for military...
Five Things for States to Focus on with School-Level Spending Data
June 16, 2019
For the first time—thanks to ESSA—the federal government is requiring states to report school-level spending data this year. Writing in The 74, Data Quality Campaign Director of Policy and Advocacy Brennan McMahon Parton has five areas she thinks states should focus on when preparing to...
Five States Getting Report Cards Right
June 9, 2019
Cindi Williams, co-founder of Learning Heroes and a principal at HCM Strategists, writes in The 74 about the vital importance of making sure parents have access to clear and honest information about both how their child or children are doing in school—and how well schools...
Leveraging Data to Partner with Parents in School Improvement
June 6, 2019
This DQC report notes that ESSA “requires states and districts to rate schools based on multiple data points (measures) that collectively comprise a state’s ‘accountability system,’” and that states “must use academic and non-academic measures, and are given flexibility on the design and weight of...
June 6, 2019
Language Magazine reports on a new Migration Policy Institute study—The Unintended Consequences for English Learners of Using the Four-Year Graduation Rate for School Accountability—which “provides a profile of high school ELs and examines causes of dropout, how graduation rates are calculated, and the effects of these...
May 30, 2019
In this article, Molly Sarubbi explores how to build awareness and construct policy supports to help foster students succeed in education. “The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) outlines provisions that encourage more collaborative policy development and implementation that mitigate barriers for highly mobile individuals, such...
May 30, 2019
This recent teacher and administrator survey from RAND notes that it’s no surprise that support for SEL is growing across the country given that research “shows that students’ social and emotional competencies are related to improvements in achievement and in other outcomes.” In addition, the...
Health, Education, and Successful Education
May 22, 2019
According to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, schools are emerging as critical places to address childhood health concerns. As part of this discussion, the authors note that the “next few years will present important opportunities for school health advocates to address student health and wellness...
Fostering Teacher Preparedness on SEL
May 21, 2019
In this recent Learning Policy Institute report, authors Hanna Melnick and Lorea Martinez note that “federal, state, and local efforts can support school and district leaders’ learning about SEL and administrators’ role in supporting teachers and students.” States can use federal dollars to foot the...
ESSA’s “Missed Opportunities” for Students with Disabilities
May 20, 2019
In the context of ongoing ESSA implementation, this report from the National Center for Learning Disabilities provides the “first national analysis” of how state plans treat students with disabilities under ESSA. Assessing ESSA: Missed Opportunities for Students with Disabilities examines “the 15 most critical components of...
Key Takeaways on School Effectiveness
May 20, 2019
As ESSA “has significantly changed the nation’s school accountability landscape,” recent work from NWEA identifies three key takeaways from an examination of school effectiveness research: “1. School effectiveness measures are sensitive to summer loss;” “2. More student growth is attributable to schools when summer loss...
DQC Infographic Focuses on School Spending Data
May 14, 2019
States are now required to “publish school-level spending data in report cards,” under ESSA. In this new infographic, the Data Quality Campaign seeks to “illustrate what it looks like when leaders – from state and local policymakers to principals and community advocates – use school-level...
Integrated Student Supports and ESSA
May 6, 2019
Michael Q. McShane reports for Education Next on the importance of integrated student supports, which seek to help overcome obstacles outside of school—hunger, homelessness, mental health concerns—that make it harder for students to learn when they are in school. While educating the whole child is...
The Coming Financial Transparency Storm
May 2, 2019
“Next year, states will for the first-time report actual school-by-school spending as required under ESSA,” writes Dale Chu in this Fordham Institute blog post. “This effort represents a quantum leap from the typical practice of tracking and reporting average district per-pupil spending, and is arguably...
April 29, 2019
Corey Mitchell reports for Education Week that, according to a new Migration Policy Institute report, ESSA may be “penalizing older English-language learners and the schools that educate them.” How? “By making four-year graduation rates such a prominent part of school accountability plans, the Every Student...
Education Leaders “Overwhelmed” by School Improvement Under ESSA
April 28, 2019
A recent report from the Center on Education Policy — “How States are Responding to ESSA’s Evidence Requirements for School Improvement” — reveals that many education leaders feel “overwhelmed” about how to implement school improvement under ESSA. Using interview information from education leaders in seven...
Reviewing Equitable Educational Opportunities Under ESSA
April 23, 2019
In this blog post from the Latino Policy Forum, Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro and Karen Garibay-Mulattieri take a look at “the promise of equitable educational opportunities” for English learners under ESSA, with a focus on Illinois. “The Forum advocates for accountability systems which help us to understand...
NCSL Releases ESSA State Plan Database
April 22, 2019
The National Conference of State Legislatures’ College and Career Readiness State Legislation Project released a new ESSA State Plan Database of all state accountability plans submitted to and approved by the U.S. Department of Education. The database allows users to access individual state profiles and...
NSBA’s Three Tips to “Give Data a Voice”
April 19, 2019
According to this new report from the National School Boards Association, under ESSA, “each state educational agency (SEA) and local educational agency (LEA) that receives Title I Part A funds must prepare and disseminate an annual report card that includes a variety of data about...
Morial on Recent NUL ESSA Study
April 17, 2019
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) “establishes civil rights standards for educating students from historically underserved populations—such as children of color, students with disabilities, and those learning English as a second language” so that they “receive the resources they need,” writes National Urban League (NUL)...
National Urban League Releases ESSA Equity Ratings
April 11, 2019
On April 10, the National Urban League released a new ESSA equity review, which rates the ESSA plans of 36 states and DC based on a dozen equity metrics, Education Dive’s Jessica Campisi reports. Metrics including resources, educators, and struggling school supports and interventions, were assigned...
ECS Publishes School Improvement Report
April 10, 2019
Education Commission of the States recently published a report regarding school improvement plans and efforts in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This “comprehensive resource” provides “information identified in statute, regulation and states’ plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as of...
Promoting Principal Talent With Title I Funds?
April 10, 2019
“Districts and states looking to invest in principals and school leaders, particularly as a strategy to improve schools, may be able to tap into federal Title I funds to help foot the bill,” writes Denisa R. Superville in Education Week. The report, which looked at...
New Report Highlights Promise of (and Roadblocks to) Personalized Learning Plans
April 3, 2019
Education Dive’s Linda Jacobson takes a look at a new Harvard University report that recommends implementing individual personalized learning plans for students. According to Jacobson, “the report also comes as the majority of states are either requiring or encouraging districts to develop individualized learning plans...
CCSSO Reports States Are Making Progress on School Improvement Plans
March 27, 2019
According to a new report from CCSSO, states are “making progress developing systems that will improve schools for all students, leveraging the flexibility provided under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).” This progress comes “as states are urgently building and initiating systems aimed at ensuring...
Are States Limiting Schools Identified for Support?
March 26, 2019
This report by Lindsay Dworkin and Anne Hyslop for the Alliance for Excellent Education takes a look at how, under ESSA, “states have reimagined their school accountability systems and come up with new ways to identify schools for support and improvement.” Though ESSA has some...
Public Transit = Higher Absenteeism
March 20, 2019
This Education Dive piece takes a look at a recent study of Baltimore City Public Schools, which shows that student use of public transportation to get to and from school is “associated” with growth in absenteeism. “With districts now learning more about the multiple reasons why students...
124 Evidence-Based Afterschool Programs Eligible for ESSA Funds
March 19, 2019
A new report from the Wallace Foundation looks at afterschool programs in the U.S. that are eligible for funding under ESSA. “The law also encourages—and in some cases requires—that applicants for its various funding streams establish that their programs are backed by strong evidence of...
March 18, 2019
Ashley Jochim, senior research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, notes the growing skills shift students need from traditional academics to non-achievement-based educational outcomes. She explains that ESSA, “implicitly recognizes this shift with its requirement that assessment of a non-academic measure of student...
A “Consumer’s Guide” to ESSA Testing
March 5, 2019
A new National Education Policy Center (NEPC) report from Madhabi Chatterji examines the testing and accountability landscape in the wake of federal approval of state ESSA plans. The report looks at how states should be “alert to any unexpected negative outcomes of testing on students,...
Helping Military-Connected Students and Families
February 28, 2019
Kiera Gallagher, a teacher at Albritton Middle School at Fort Bragg and an Army spouse, says that military students and families now have “powerful resources to help them navigate the shoals of transitioning their children to new schools,” including a guide by the Collaborative and...
ESSA, Curriculum, and the “50 States of Education”
February 26, 2019
Jessica Campisi, writing for Education Dive, takes a look at the big education policy happenings in state legislatures across the nation as part of the “50 States of Education Policy” series. She reports that many state lawmakers are “looking to shift curriculum” as “educators continue to...
Supplement-Not-Supplant – “Sorry Not Sorry”
February 20, 2019
Marguerite Roza writes in this Brookings piece that “new draft guidance the U.S. Department of Education released last month on monitoring the ‘supplement-not-supplant’ provision [of Title I] might be perceived as the current administration issuing a big sorry not sorry to equity advocates.” According to...
Only 16 States Tracking Foster Care Students Under ESSA
February 20, 2019
To help address the challenges faced by students in foster care, ESSA requires states to publicly report how such students are faring on state tests and the rates at which they are graduating high school, Kate Stringer reports for The 74. “But right now, only...
Tracking Progress of Homeless Students
February 14, 2019
Alyson Klein reports for Education Week that according to a recent analysis by Education Leads Home, homeless students “are less likely to graduate from high school than other low-income children, and the general population.” ELH “analyzed graduation rate data for the 2016-17 school year in...
ESSA Implementation, Illinois, and Student Outcome Requirements
February 13, 2019
Elliot Regenstein, Ben Boer, and Paul Zavitkovsky take a look at the implementation of ESSA’s student outcome requirements in Illinois. The state’s Board of Education “has set a goal of having 90 percent of students achieve proficiency on state standardized tests.” And Although ESSA “was...
Caution Needed On School Quality Measures
February 6, 2019
Constance Lindsay writes for Education Week that measuring school quality is complicated, and reflects a community’s values and politics. When “hard metrics” are absent, “parents and other stakeholders are left to make assumptions often informed by all kinds of biases.” The “tools often used to...
Supporting Highly Qualified Teachers Under ESSA
February 5, 2019
Amid recent teacher strikes, Akil Wilson, a Washington, DC-based podcaster and parent, examines how states can better support educators, through ESSA. In his piece for Black Press USA, Wilson explains that Title II funds are intended “to support class size reduction, encourage performance-based pay for...
Is ESSA Another “Elusive Dream” for Equity?
February 4, 2019
Writing for Black Press USA, Dr. Elizabeth V. Primas, Program Manager for NNPA ESSA Awareness Campaign, says that, as “education leaders review the individual state plans that have been developed and approved in keeping with the Every Student Succeeds Act, it is obvious that many...
Helping Military Children Succeed
January 25, 2019
Military Families for High Standards’ Christi Ham writes in RealClearEducation about how ESSA’s Military Student Identifier can help military families manage the many challenges they face—and help military-connected students succeed. She notes three categories of best practices that school districts serving military students and families...
“Hodge Podge” of State Approaches to Measuring Post-High School Readiness
January 22, 2019
States are taking a varied approach to measuring post-high school readiness. According to Education Week’s Alyson Klein, “nearly every state is gauging school performance in part by whether students show that they are ready for life after high school.” She notes thatthe big reason for...
Start Small, Follow the Evidence
January 17, 2019
In The 74, Allison Crean Davis explores how to build an evidence base for research. She notes that exploratory studies “are better at suggesting patterns and potential directions of inquiry than they are at determining causation and arriving at firm conclusions.” She notes, however, that...
January 15, 2019
In this Education Week piece, Andrew Ujifusa takes a look at the sensitive issues of socioeconomic factors, geographic location, and education quality. Of course, school funding mechanisms are a vital component of these interconnected issues, as “state and local funding each typically make up about...
ESSA’s “Clues” for Military-Connected Students
January 8, 2019
In a companion piece in Education Week to Burnette’s article (scroll down to find), Doug Mesecar and Don Soifer delve deeper into the data reporting requirement under ESSA. The Military Student Identifier (MSI), they write, “should provide families, teachers, administrators, and researchers with a clearer understanding...
The “Black Achievement Paradox Nobody’s Talking About”
January 8, 2019
As part of Education Week’s 10 Big Ideas in Education series, Daarel Burnette II asks: “Why do black students whose parents serve in the military significantly outperform their peers from black civilian families?” This question has “stumped researchers” for years—especially considering how the vast majority of military families move stations...
Louisiana’s John White Talks Challenges and Opportunities Under ESSA
December 31, 2018
In this FutureEd interview, Louisiana Chief John White discusses the state’s participation in the U.S. Dept. of Education’s innovative assessment pilot. “Our hope is that the new assessments will create an incentive for teachers to focus on the meaning of texts, to focus on building...
We Can Learn from Detroit, Chicago, on Growth and School Ratings
December 13, 2018
NWEA’s Chris Minnich writes for Learning Policy Institute that, for many years, schools across the nation have “been rated based on a single measure—how well students do on the annual summative test.” But under ESSA, states have built their own accountability systems and incorporated new metrics, both...
Time To Act On Data, Improving Student Outcomes
December 5, 2018
Last week, DQC released its annual landscape analysis, Time to Act 2018, which examined state efforts to leverage data to improve student outcomes, and also takes a look at future opportunities to do so under ESSA. DQC’s analysis found that state leaders responded to the opportunities under...
Four-Year Grad Rates “Leave Off Where the Real Work Begins”
November 28, 2018
Learning Policy Institute’s Julie Kessler examines the issue of four-year graduation rates, and how this “seemingly innocuous data point” can have some “harsh consequences.” For example, accountability systems based on four-year graduation rates can “discourage schools from continuing to offer services, support, and courses to...
New Mexico “Leading the Way” Under ESSA
November 20, 2018
All4Ed’s Lindsey Dworkin writes about how New Mexico is taking full advantage of the flexibility afforded by ESSA and is “leading the way” for other states. New Mexico was one of the first states “to identify schools for comprehensive support,” and is leveraging “every possible...
District-Level Efforts to Fight Chronic Absenteeism
November 16, 2018
Deborah Yaffe writes in District Administration that it used to be “easy for districts to ignore what high average daily-attendance numbers can conceal: kids, sometimes lots of them, who miss weeks of school every year.” But ESSA changed this equation by requiring states to track...
November 15, 2018
The Center for American Progress’ Samantha Batel recently released an analysis of how Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) approach to school support in the context of ESSA, “largely shifts the school support role” from states to districts. “Importantly, states will continue to play a role in...
November 15, 2018
In The 74, Carolyn Phenicie provides an overview of Promise to Practice—the latest iteration of the Collaborative for Student Success’ Check State Plans initiative, done in partnership with HCM Strategists. ”Now that all state plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act have been approved,...
New Social-Emotional Learning Guide
November 9, 2018
Education Dive’s Lucy Hood reports on the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) and highlights a new guide from the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). The guide, “provides educators with assessment tools for gauging social emotional learning (SEL) as well as guidelines for...
The “Nudging” Approach to Fighting Chronic Absenteeism
November 5, 2018
“As many as 8 million U.S. public school students struggle academically simply because they miss too much school,” Phyllis W. Jordan writes in Education Next. “Recognizing this, 36 states and the District of Columbia have begun holding schools accountable for chronic student absenteeism” under ESSA....
Military-Family Struggles at Beginning of School Year—and how MSI Could Help
November 2, 2018
Kiera Gallagher, M.Ed, a teacher at Albritton Middle School at Fort Bragg and an Army spouse, reflects on the struggles military families like her own face and how such families “cross their fingers” during the back to school period of the year. She writes that each time...
Focusing on Growth in School Ratings
November 1, 2018
NWEA’s Chris Minnich writes in Education Next about the importance of factoring in student growth—and not just proficiency—when determining school ratings. While “proficiency matters, of course,” rating systems that include both achievement and growth are fairer because they “differentiate between a school with low achievement...
Eight Policy Changes to Help Principals
October 25, 2018
Amelia Harper reports about new research from the NYC Leadership Academy, which examines the issue of coaching principals. In a related policy brief entitled “Still in the Game: How Coaching Keeps Leaders in Schools and Making Progress,” the Academy “suggests eight policy changes that school...
“Data Overload” in the Age of ESSA
October 22, 2018
Hisham Anwar of EdSurge explores the question of how to prepare for “education’s data overload.” While the accountability paradigm under NCLB focused on assessment rather than instructional practice and outcomes, under ESSA, school quality and success indicators are highlighted. Anwar notes that, “a growing number...
Ensuring School Performance Data Works for Families
October 18, 2018
In Education Next, Data Quality Campaign’s Paige Kowalski and Brennan McMahon Parton discuss the importance of making sure families can easily access, understand, and effectively use school performance data. This is particularly important since now, under ESSA, “nearly every state has made strong commitments to...
Survey: Did States Engage with Their Stakeholders?
October 17, 2018
The Collaborative for Student Success recently released results from a survey of education stakeholders which sought to find out whether states have meaningfully engaged with them as part of the development of their ESSA plans. The memo also examined whether stakeholders took advantage of this...
FutureEd Criticizes Feds for dropping support for School Improvement Grants
October 8, 2018
FutureEd is calling out the federal government “for dropping support for the School Improvement Grant program,” Dian Schaffhauser writes in T.H.E. Journal. FutureEd’s main concern is that “school improvement funding going out to states and localities under the Every Student Succeeds Act will ignore lessons already...
States “Shirking” ESSA on Equity Metrics?
October 3, 2018
Dian Schaffhauser writes in T.H.E. Journal that, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, many states are “shirking” their responsibilities under ESSA when it comes to two equity-focused policies: how states are defining “‘consistently underperforming’ in identifying schools for targeted support,” and how they are including...
State Plans a Missed Opportunity for Special Ed
October 3, 2018
Recently, the National Center for Learning Disabilities took a look at each state’s ESSA plan and developed an analysis—”Assessing ESSA: Missed Opportunities for Students with Disabilities“—of “how state plans are including and serving students with disabilities under the Every Student Succeeds Act.” Generally, the organization...
Legislators Commit to Data to Support ESSA Goals
October 2, 2018
With most ESSA plans in place, policymakers used the 2018 legislative session to define the role of data in meeting states’ education goals. The Data Quality Campaign’s latest report explores the commitments states have made around data use, including using this information to answer complex questions on...
Interventions Work for Most Chronically Absent Students
September 28, 2018
Education Dive’s Linda Jacobson reports on a new study released by University of Nebraska researchers, that interventions “intended to improve attendance are more effective with students who miss the most school—at least 20% of the year—than they are with students who miss fewer days.” The...
September 26, 2018
In The 74, Doug Mesecar and Don Soifer, authors of a recent report from the Lexington Institute, write about the struggles faced by military-connected families and how the Military Student Identifier (MSI) can help ease these struggles. Also discussed in the report,published in partnership with...
State Plans Minimizing Performance of Vulnerable Students?
September 24, 2018
Education Week’s Alyson Klein reports on an analysis released by the Alliance for Excellent Education, that found many state ESSA plans “don’t do a great job of incorporating the performance of vulnerable subgroups of students, such as racial minorities, English-learners, and those with disabilities.” Additionally,...
States, ESSA, and Mental Health
September 23, 2018
As part of the Education Week’s ongoing “Answering Your ESSA Questions“series: “How does ESSA handle mental health in schools?,” Klein notes that there “aren’t any explicit requirements that states include mental health in their ESSA plans.” But “this doesn’t mean states aren’t taking mental health...
Priorities for Changing Testing Environment Under ESSA
September 13, 2018
At Education Next, Laura Slover and Lesley Muldoon discuss the multiple priorities they have identified for states and districts as they “evolve their testing regimes” under ESSA. These include rigor, transparency, and timely results. They call for education leaders “to hold firm on these advances...
Lexington Institute on Maximizing Effectiveness of MSI
September 12, 2018
A new report from the Lexington Institute, “aims to provide local education officials nationwide with a number of recommended practices and additional steps that they should consider taking to successfully implement the ESSA military student identifier and effectively use the information collected.” The authors also...
LPI Report Examines States’ Plans to Close Opportunity Gaps
September 5, 2018
In this recent report, the Learning Policy Institute examines how numerous states are using ESSA to address equity disparities in education, increase inclusivity in schools, and help all students reach their potential. The report “provides information on which states have committed in their ESSA accountability...
ESSA Preschool Development Grants Building “Foundation of Success”
September 4, 2018
In The 74, Sarah Rittling makes the case for the importance of early childhood education, and says that ESSA “more fully incorporates state and local efforts to expand early childhood education and the connections that exist between early learning and the K-12 system” as well as “establishes...
Attendance Works on ESSA and Fighting Chronic Absenteeism
September 1, 2018
This new report from Attendance Works says that the inclusion of chronic absence in ESSA “was a watershed moment that made this metric an integral component of efforts to help students succeed in school and later in life.” It examines the “scale, scope and concentration of chronic...
MPI Fact Sheets Examine EL Demographics in ESSA Context
August 30, 2018
The Migration Policy Institute’s Julie Sugarman and Courtney Geary, as a part of holding K-12 and school districts accountable for meeting Every Student Succeeds Act mandates, have pulled together a series of fact sheets that provide “an overview of EL student demographics and outcomes” in...
Do Districts Need to Start “Oversharing” Data?
August 28, 2018
ESSA’s per-pupil spending reporting requirement “won’t lead to much new data until winter of 2019,” Ary Amerikaner writes for Education Week, but even though education stakeholders are often focused on the latest proverbial “fire drills,” educators and advocates need to start taking this provision seriously right away. “If you...
ESSA “5th Indicator” Making it Harder, Not Easier to Gauge Student Success?
August 26, 2018
Taylor Swaak reports for The 74 that while academic achievement has “typically been the gold standard for tracking student gains and school progress,” policymakers hoped ESSA’s “5th indicator” provision would “spur a more innovative approach.” But an “in-depth review by The 74 of plans from...
Detailed District Spending Looms—are Schools Ready?
August 24, 2018
David A. DeSchryver & Noelle Ellerson Ng write in Education Week that ESSA’s “fiscal transparency reporting requirement is a sleeper issue that will demand more of district leaders than just a change in how they communicate policy decisions with their communities.” In fact, it “will...
States, Data, and Meeting Education Goals Under ESSA
August 20, 2018
States have “made big commitments” in their ESSA accountability plans to leverage data in an effective manner and help reach their education goals, which is a “major recognition of data as a powerful tool when it’s working for students,” The Data Quality Campaign’s Brennan McMahon Parton writes in...
Ditching Subsidized Lunch as Student Poverty Metric?
August 16, 2018
Until recently, economically disadvantaged students have generally been identified by their eligibility for the federal free or reduced-price lunch (FRL) program. But increasing numbers of schools providing free lunch to all under “community eligibility” provisions, can present a challenge for states as they “implement new school accountability...
ESSA and the Future of Education Changemaking
August 6, 2018
Rick Hess opines in Education Week that those “who want to improve the American public education system are facing a unique moment with an abundance of levers to drive change,” including ESSA, which “provides states and localities with increased flexibility in setting goals and designing interventions, which were once...
Strategic Leadership and School Improvement
August 3, 2018
Linda Jacobson reports for Education Dive that, with almost all state ESSA plans approved by the U.S. Department of Education, the “question related to school improvement isn’t so much what works to help low-performing schools, but how to implement strategies in the most effective way,”...
Most Professional Development Not Meeting Federal Guidelines
July 26, 2018
Amelia Harper reports in Education Dive that a new report from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute called “Bridging the Gap” has “compared data from more than 200 school districts against the Every Student Succeeds Act’s definition of professional learning, created with input from Learning Forward,...
Districts, Personalized Learning Resources, and ESSA
July 18, 2018
Eli Zimmerman writes in EdTech Magazine that school districts looking for resources to support personalized learning efforts “can find a number of opportunities in the Every Student Succeeds Act, specifically from Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (or Title IV), which received a $700 million...
Arts Programs Fight Summer Slide, Will Get Boost Under ESSA
July 18, 2018
Amelia Harper reports for Education Dive on the positive role arts programs can play in narrowing the achievement gap “because the impact of summer learning loss is cumulative and can cause some low-income students to be as many as three years behind their peers by...
Education Funding Inequity Persistent Problem
July 13, 2018
Amelia Harper reports for Education Dive that “though federal funding has helped level the playing field in school spending over the years, a recently released report of school spending during the 2014-15 academic year reveals that 25% of the poorest schools in the nation received...
Former White House Domestic Policy Council Directors Weigh In
July 9, 2018
Melody Barnes and John Bridgeland, former directors of the White House Domestic Policy Council under former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush respectively, authored a piece on the opportunity for ESSA to “reduce massive disparities in educational outcomes for youth.” Barnes and Bridgeland argued...
Taking the Right Approach to Funding Ed Innovation
June 26, 2018
In a new issue brief, iNACOL “highlights case studies and action steps for policymakers to deepen their understanding of state funding strategies to support innovation in K-12 education.” The brief notes that ESSA gives states the opportunity to use federal funding to build capacity for...
June 21, 2018
Linda Jacobson writes in Education Dive that according to “a recent analysis of the results of a social-emotional learning (SEL) survey that the California Office for Reform Education (CORE) administered to its more than 1 million students attending eight urban school systems,” students’ “reports of whether...
Civil Rights Groups Call on DeVos to Hold States to Higher Standard
June 19, 2018
In an event, the National Urban League, the Education Trust, and Unidos US focused on how states are “flouting the Every Student Succeeds Act’s protections for vulnerable groups of children, and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos letting them get away with it,” according to...
FutureEd and Attendance Works on “Rules” for Tracking Chronic Absenteeism
June 18, 2018
Nearly three in four states included chronic absenteeism as part of their school assessment measures under ESSA, reflecting how important this metric is for identifying struggling students and schools and getting them the resources they need. This new FutureEd and Attendance Works report describes a number of...
LPI On SEL and “Next Steps for States”
June 15, 2018
This Learning Policy Institute brief “offers recommendations for how state agencies might measure and promote social and emotional learning in their [ESSA] accountability and continuous improvement plans,” and is based “on a more detailed report, Encouraging social and emotional learning in the context of new...
CAP “Blueprint” for Alternative High Schools and Accountability
June 15, 2018
This month, the Center for American Progress released a report that provides recommendations that aim to improve stakeholders’ “ability to conduct much-needed investigation into the experience of students in alternative schools, while striking a balance between accurate measurement and rigorous expectations.” ESSA “requires that proficiency...
ESSA Questions Answered by the Experts
June 15, 2018
Mike Bock reports that, last month, Education Week hosted “Keys to ESSA Implementation,” an “online event where journalists and policy experts answered audience questions about the new federal K-12 law that will become a classroom reality this fall.” And afterwards, the publication filmed a discussion between participating...
What Works…or What Can Be Evaluated?
June 14, 2018
The Brookings Institution’s Nora Gordon writes that policy researchers often lament how infrequently their work is put into practice. But while “the statutory push in ESSA for schools to use evidence may seem an elegant solution to this dilemma, it also poses a real risk...
ESSA, Districts, and Leveraging ESSA for Better Results
June 11, 2018
Sarah D. Sparks writes in Education Week that, according to a recent evaluation by the Institute of Education Sciences, few of the hundreds of programs that have been proposed under the “Investing in Innovation, or i3, program” and encouraged under ESSA actually “led to significant interventions.”...
Five Ways to Improve Graduation Rates and Pathways to Success under ESSA
June 5, 2018
Discussing their new Building a Grad Nation report in this PBS NewsHour piece, Robert Balfanz (Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University), John Bridgeland (Civic Enterprises), John Gomperts (America’s Promise Alliance), and former Gov. Bob Wise (Alliance for Excellent Education) explain how, given the flexibility...
State Assessments, Teacher Evaluations, and ESSA
June 5, 2018
The National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado published a policy brief by Kevin Close, Audrey Amrein-Beardsley, and Clarin Collins that examines state-level assessments and teacher evaluation systems in the ESSA context and offers “some steps in the right direction.”
Many States are Setting Lower Academic Goals for ELLs
May 31, 2018
Recent analyses by Achieve and UnidosUS find many state ESSA plans are deficient when it comes to equity and educating English-language learners (ELLs), Corey Mitchell reports for Education Week. A pair of policy briefs from the organizations demonstrate that more than 50 percent of these plans purposefully apply...
Locating and Leveraging ELL Data
May 31, 2018
A brief from the Migration Policy Institute’s Julie Sugarman examines how how under ESSA—where states must publish significant amounts of student data, including for English-language learners—more data will be available than ever before. Sugarman explains that “knowing where to find and how to use these...
May 24, 2018
New Classrooms curated a list of links and summaries for ESSA toolkits, white papers, policy briefings, special reports, and more that have been produced by a range of leading think tanks, advocacy groups, and policy organizations. Check them out here.
May 23, 2018
In this episode of the Brookings Institutions’s “Intersections” podcast, post-doctoral fellow Lauren Bauer and the George W. Bush Institute’s Anne Wicks “explain how states are developing new measures of school quality and student success” as required under ESSA. Bauer and Wicks “detail how using two...
Tough Proficiency Standards Sticking Under ESSA?
May 18, 2018
Kevin Mahnken reports for The 74 on the findings of a new study from Education Next Editor and Harvard professor Paul Peterson and Harvard postdoctoral fellow Daniel Hamlin, which finds that “proficiency standards on state tests have grown more stringent over the past few years,...
State Chiefs Using Data to Figure Out What Works
May 17, 2018
Chiefs for Change and Results for America released a new report that examines how state chiefs are intensifying their efforts to leverage data to better understand how effective different programs are at improving student achievement under ESSA. The report provides a roadmap for states and districts to...
Evaluate Schools Through More Than Just Test Scores Under ESSA?
May 15, 2018
The Education Research Alliance for New Orleans “released a new study that explores how school ratings would change if states evaluated school performance differently.” Sara Slaughter reports for News from Tulane that, as the “national debate on how states should measure school performance under” ESSA...
“Deeper Policymaking” Needed for “Student Self-Advocacy” Under ESSA?
May 15, 2018
Don Long of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) and Ace Parsi of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) write in Education Week that, under ESSA, states “must act boldly on meeting and going beyond” the law’s requirements and “put equity...
State Grad Requirements Not Making the Grade for Public Universities
May 12, 2018
A recent Center for American Progress report finds that while high school graduation rates have soared in recent years “in the vast majority of states, simply attaining a high school diploma does not qualify students to attend a public university.” Study co-author Laura Jimenez said, “There really just isn’t...
Letters Home Key to Reducing Chronic Absenteeism?
May 2, 2018
Kate Stringer reports for The 74 that families “can drastically underestimate how often their children miss school,” but according to new research, when “parents are given accurate information about their children’s absences,” they “can become valuable players in making sure their kids show up at school.”...
Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Under ESSA
May 1, 2018
A new strategy paper from the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project—Reducing chronic absenteeism under the Every Student Succeeds Act—reviews “the literature and present novel analyses of the factors at the school and student levels that relate to chronic absenteeism,” and finds “that health problems and socioeconomic...
NCLD Toolkit on Advocating for Professional Development
May 1, 2018
Because ESSA sets aside professional development funding for all states and local districts, the National Center for Learning Disabilities has put together a helpful toolkit “for parents and advocates to use in their schools and districts” to advocate for professional development that will improve outcomes for students...
ESSA and Bolstering STEM, Computer Science
April 28, 2018
In this latest installment of Education Week’s “Answering Your ESSA Questions” series, Jillian Aicher, a Georgetown University student, asks: “Does ESSA include a designated funding stream for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) or computer science? How can districts leverage ESSA for STEM?” Ed Week’s...
Groups Helping District Leaders “Seize the Moment”
April 25, 2018
The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program, Chiefs for Change, EducationCounsel, and Education First have released “Seizing the Moment: A District Guide to Advance Equity Through ESSA.” They have created a “suite of tools—including a series of infographics to help inform and guide local conversations”...
Achieve Releases Science Assessment Guidance
April 18, 2018
Dian Schaffhauser reports that, as states sort out their science standards “all of them are expected to adhere to ‘high-quality’ summative science assessments that meet federal requirements” as defined under Title 1 Part A of ESSA. Achieve “recently released criteria that can be used by...
Using ESSA Data to “Make Informed Decisions”
April 10, 2018
Mike English writes for eSchool News that with the passage of the deadline for states to submit their final ESSA plans, it’s now “up to school districts to figure out how to capture and report data about student performance.” This additional reporting may seem burdensome,...
ESSA, Military Students, and Progress
April 9, 2018
“As we celebrate the Month of the Military Child, I am reminded of the numerous stories I have heard about the challenges the sons and daughters of our armed forces face because of one (or both) of their parent’s service,” writes Christi Ham, chairwoman of...
Ed Week’s Indispensable ESSA Guide
April 4, 2018
Education Week’s Alyson Klein writes about the publication’s new special report called “ESSA on the Runway”, which “analyzes the state of ESSA implementation on the eve of the law’s operational debut” and “takes a multifaceted look at just how ready those states, districts, and schools...
Needs Assessment, Learning, Health and ESSA
April 4, 2018
The Healthy Schools Campaign and Alliance for a Healthier Generation have released a new guide—Using Needs Assessments to Connect Learning + Health: Opportunities in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)—which “includes important background information, data sources, tips for advocates and sample health and wellness questions...
Hunt Institute Unveils Interactive Worksheet for State Leaders
April 3, 2018
The Hunt Institute published its “Policymaker’s Guide to Understanding Your State’s ESSA Plan & Reviews,” which is “intended to help state-level policymakers and other stakeholders begin to dive into the details of their state ESSA plans and provide a place to note thoughts, concerns, and...
NGA’s Parker Shares Solutions for State ESSA Implementation
April 3, 2018
Stephen Parker, who leads the Education and Workforce Committee at the National Governor’s Association, shared a list of solutions for state leaders as they implement their ESSA plans, in a new post on the Fordham Institute’s Flypaper blog. Parker writes, “Approved state plans should be...
Kangas: Don’t “Underestimate, Shortchange” English-Language Learners with Disabilities
March 30, 2018
Corey Mitchell writes in Education Week about a seven-month ethnographic study conducted by Lehigh University Assistant Professor Sara Kangas, which found that some educators do not “prioritize language services for ELLs because they had low expectations for the students.” At the same time, many states “didn’t...
NGSS Outlines Stem Funding in Budget
March 23, 2018
Next Generation Science Standards takes a deep dive into the federal budget to see how STEM programs make out in terms of funding for the next fiscal year. They report that “STEM advocates are celebrating increased funding for programs and initiatives in” ESSA, several of...
March 23, 2018
“Although student achievement in core subjects is commonly used to define success,” writes Laura Ascione in eSchool News, “more educators agree that student success also depends on learning about intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies—commonly known as social and emotional learning, or SEL.”
Time for States to “Step Up” on ESSA
March 19, 2018
ESSA champions have “long argued” the law would “swing the pendulum of control back to the states and, by doing so, unleash the innovative potential of local leaders,” writes educator Sean Worley in The 74. Citing Check State Plans as evidence, Worley explains that “states have fallen...
ESSA Plans Getting Personal(ized Learning)
March 15, 2018
EdWeek MarketBrief’s Michele Molnar reports that personalized learning, or at least “some of its components,” make an appearance in most state ESSA accountability plans submitted to the U.S Department of Education, according to a new study by KnowledgeWorks.
NASBE and CCSSO respond to criticism of state ESSA plans
March 14, 2018
“It’s been two years since the Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into law,” write National Association of State Boards of Education President and CEO Kristen J. Amundson and Council of Chief State School Officers Interim Executive Director Carissa Miller. “States have since been hard at work...
Helping Districts Meet ESSA Research Deadline
March 13, 2018
“It’s the first finding of pretty much any education study, regardless of the topic or the intervention: We need more research,” reports Sarah D. Sparks. But for educators and policymakers trying to improve education under ESSA, “understanding the good-enough evidence can be more important than...
Hold schools accountable, but make rating systems comprehensible
March 12, 2018
“For the past 18 months, I have been part of a group advising Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath on the creation of a new A–F report card for school districts and campuses,” writes William McKenzie of the George W. Bush Institute in The 74. Of course, differing...
ESSA “wild card” driving academic non-academic indicator?
March 9, 2018
FutureEd’s Editorial Director Phyllis W. Jordan and Research Assistant Paige Marley say lawmakers put a “wild card” in ESSA by requiring states to include at least one non-academic measure of “school quality and student success.” Ultimately, three in four states chose chronic absenteeism as their non-academic indicator, but many...
Michigan Has Big Choices Ahead, According to New Report
March 6, 2018
Education Trust-Midwest released the most recent update of its Michigan Achieves campaign, which finds that Michigan must choose whether to “take advantage of new opportunities to become a top ten education state—or face a continued and dramatic educational decline.” The report also notes that as states take...
ESSA Major Opportunity to Expand Early Education
March 5, 2018
Nonie Lesaux and Stephanie M. Jones—co-leads of Harvard’s Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative—write that under ESSA, states and districts have the opportunity to “expand access to early education, coordinate those efforts and hold themselves accountable for boosting children’s early learning and development through high-quality early education.”...
States Need “Serious Help” with ESSA Implementation
February 21, 2018
Former Department of Education official Anne Hyslop writes about how state ESSA plans, now “on the brink of implementation,” are both “underwhelming and uneven” – which means progress for children will be as well, unless we can find ways to help states take advantage of...
Post-ESSA, State Ed Reformers Keep Fighting the Good Fight!
February 21, 2018
Policy Innovators in Education (PIE) Network Executive Director Suzanne Tacheny Kubach examines how, under ESSA, “state reform advocacy organizations continue to prove they are established players in statehouses, bringing the voices of community, business, and civic leaders, innovative educators, and parents to debates over the...
Are States Effectively Driving Stronger School Climates Via ESSA?
February 20, 2018
The Center for American Progress’ Samantha Batel says in The 74 that ESSA gave states an opportunity to “rethink their education systems,” and not just on accountability. ESSA plans also “encourage states to spotlight holistic support systems that can improve outcomes for students.” In fact,...
Are States Leading for Equity?
February 16, 2018
The Council of Chief State School Officers, the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program and America’s Promise Alliance released a new report “showing promising practices in states to ensure educational equity for all students.” The report, “States Leading for Equity: Promising Practices Advancing the Equity...
ESSA Success up to Everyone, say Atkinson and Chu
February 13, 2018
Former North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson and former senior education official in Indiana and Florida Dale Chu have been watching the development and rollout of ESSA in states, and say there is “no point in sugarcoating” ESSA’s “rocky start.” In an Education...
More ELL Accountability Needed in Texas
February 13, 2018
Elda M. Rojas, executive director of multilingual programs at the Fort Worth Independent School District, is calling for increased accountability for English language-learners (ELLs) in Texas. Unfortunately, the state’s ESSA accountability plan doesn’t do the job. According to “an independent peer review of state education...
States Must Make Most of ESSA Military Student Identifier Provision
February 13, 2018
Christi Ham, chairwoman of Military Families for High Standards, tells the story of “Michael,” a fictitious military-connected child who is a symbol for all children of service members, “because so many military families endure similar obstacles in ensuring a quality education for their children while...
Chiefs for Change Brief Says Teacher Leaders Critical to Student Success
February 13, 2018
According to a new brief from Chiefs for Change—The Network Effect: Harnessing the Power of Teacher Leadership Networks to Sustain Progress in Tennessee—under the “sustained leadership” of Commissioners Kevin Huffman and Candice McQueen, the Volunteer State “boosted student achievement by leveraging the power of teacher leadership networks, a...
February 5, 2018
Achieve has released three briefs examining different aspects of state ESSA plans. The briefs take a deep dive on state graduation rate goals, state academic achievement goals, and how states include measures of 9th grade performance.
Are State Plans Promoting Equity & Opportunity?
February 5, 2018
On The 74, authors Martin Orland, James Cibulka, and Kenneth Wong conclude that, while they “can’t yet say whether the optimists or pessimists will prove to be more accurate regarding the implications of a retrenched federal role for our most vulnerable populations” under ESSA, what...
States Using ESSA, Title II to Improve Teaching?
February 5, 2018
Stephenie Johnson, associate campaign director for K-12 Education Policy at the Center for American Progress, has reviewed all state ESSA plans “searching specifically for state-led and state-supported programs that will be funded, at least in part, through Title II, Part A of ESSA—the section of...
PIE Network on Implementing Policy with (not to) Educators
February 2, 2018
A new set of case studies from the PIE Network underscores how, as states transition to ESSA-aligned accountability systems, the way those systems are presented to teachers could have a dramatic impact on success. Examples from Louisiana and Tennessee share how each state worked with...
What About Plans’ Promise for Improving Schools?
February 2, 2018
Center for American Progress Senior Policy Analyst for K-12 Education Samantha Batel writes that, while independent reviews have largely found state ESSA plans to be “unambitious or unfinished” (such as Check State Plans), one policy (which appears in half of ESSA plans) “could have teeth...
Texas ELLs Must Be Factor in School Ratings
January 25, 2018
Rolando Aguirre, president of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, writes that Hispanics make up more than 50 percent of student enrollment in Texas public schools, so “It would be fair to say the success of Texas schools rises or falls with Hispanic students,” and...
National Urban League Launches ESSA Accountability Campaign
January 19, 2018
Building on the work of its Equity and Excellence Project, the National Urban League has launched No Ceilings on Success, a “campaign to hold states accountable through parental and community involvement.” The campaign will work to equip “parents, teachers, students and communities with the knowledge...
ESSA and Its Impact on High School CTE
January 19, 2018
The American Enterprise Institute’s Andy Smarick says one of the “most interesting possibilities” under ESSA is the law’s “potential to influence high school-level career and technical education (CTE) programming.”
The Principal Principle and ESSA
January 17, 2018
A new report from New Leaders asks how states are “planning to support principals and other school leaders” under ESSA. They found that, “Some states will develop and expand programs to diversify their ranks of principals and other school leaders; others will emphasize building up...
NCLB + ESSA = State—But Not Local—Control
January 11, 2018
American Enterprise Institute’s Nat Malkus explains that the combined impact of NCLB and ESSA will be that, when it comes to education policy, the “reins” will be “firmly in state hands.” As a result, “many will have to adjust to these state differences” and undertake...
New America Study Looks at Illinois English-Learner Data
January 11, 2018
Recently, New America released a report regarding Illinois’ ESSA plan and how it will impact and improve how the state tracks and uses data regarding its fast-growing population of English learners. Home to the fifth-largest population of K–12 English learners in the country, New America...
ESSA School Improvement Plans “Mixed Bag,” Says Results for America
January 11, 2018
Education Week‘s Alyson Klein asks an important question: “How strong are state ESSA plans when it comes to school improvement?” According to a new report by the Evidence in Education Lab at Results for America, it’s “a mixed bag.”
Spending Study “Raises Red Flag” On ESSA School Comparisons
January 11, 2018
According to EdWeek Market Brief’s Michele Molnar, a new report from Allovue takes a look at school district spending patterns in the 2016 to 2017 school year, and highlights the challenges of tracking the “equitable use of resources across schools because of the way budgeting...
School Accountability—Keep It Simple
January 10, 2018
One theme that educators and policymakers kept returning to in interviews this year for The ‘A’ Word is that school accountability systems have grown too complex,” writes Anne Wicks of the George W. Bush Institute. While those who participated in this interview series “recognized that...
New 50-State Comparison of School Accountability Systems
January 9, 2018
This new report from the Education Commission of the States explores what “shifts are being made, and how are states incorporating a wider variety of school quality measurements,” provides “a national overview of current state accountability systems,” and “looks at the changes states are making...
State ESSA Plans Getting Personal(ized)
January 8, 2018
In T.H.E. Journal, Dian Schaffhauser discusses how, with the latest round of U.S. Dept. of Education feedback on state ESSA plans, new approaches for accountability are “sprouting out all over the country.” However, this may be occurring “without sufficient innovation,” at least according to a...
January 3, 2018
As states transition from No Child Left Behind to using their new authority under ESSA, Anne Wicks and William McKenzie of the George W. Bush Institute write in The 74 that it is critical for all stakeholders—federal officials, advocacy organizations, and policymakers—provide proper oversight to...
Ed Trust: Equity Advocates Still Have Work to Do
December 18, 2017
In a new brief by The Education Trust, plans to improve outcomes for low-income students and students of color are “not encouraging.” The report recommends that “civil rights advocates keep a watchful eye on ESSA performance data to show if the new state accountability systems...
Mapping Career Readiness in State ESSA Plans
December 14, 2017
Advance CTE released a report on how state’s ESSA plans are “taking advantage of key opportunities to support career readiness.” The report also “profiles state plans for Title II, Part A funding, which supports the development of teachers and school administrators, and Title IV, which...
Check State Plans Analysis of Second-Round ESSA Plans Released!
December 12, 2017
The Collaborative for Student Success, in partnership with Bellwether Education Partners, has released the results of an independent peer review of the 34 state plans submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in September. The findings—coupled with the results of the first independent peer review...
CEP Talks Year One ESSA Implementation
December 11, 2017
The George Washington University Center on Education Policy recently conducted a survey of state education officials and released a report outlining its findings, which takes a look at first-year state ESSA efforts. CEP found that, “Although many state education leaders like having greater control over...
ESG’s Reyna On State Plans and College and Career Readiness
December 11, 2017
Education Strategy Group Senior Associate Ryan Reyna offers his thoughts on state ESSA plans and where he believes “work remains to deliver on the promise of college and career readiness for all students,” while also highlighting “some promising examples from state ESSA plans that can...
December 10, 2017
Two years after the passage of ESSA, Lane Wright asks in The 74 how the law will make a difference in the day-to-day experiences of students and teachers. His answer? “Not much, but not nothing.”
ESSA Provides Several Social-Emotional Learning Funding Opportunities
December 5, 2017
According to The 74, a new RAND Corporation report finds that “schools looking to implement social-emotional learning programs have several funding options available to them through” ESSA. RAND identified “60 evidence-based social-emotional learning interventions schools and districts can use that align with the ESSA requirements,”...
NNPA: Texas Plan Can Be Model for Rest of States
December 2, 2017
Education officials in Texas “put a lot of work into” their ESSA plan writes Lynette Monroe, a Program Assistant at the NNPA ESSA Media Campaign, in the Milwaukee Courier. “We can all learn from what they included and what they chose not to include.”
ExcelinEd Releases State Landscape
December 1, 2017
ExcelinEd has looked at ESSA plans for all 50 states and the District of Columbia and released its landscape analysis. Dr. Christy Hovanetz, who authored the analysis, said, “It’s encouraging that in the majority of states, schools will earn summative ratings that are easily understandable...
Introducing the Check State Plans Podcast Series
November 28, 2017
In a few weeks, the Collaborative and Bellwether will release the second-round reviews of the final 34 state plans, submitted in September and October of this year. As we approach this second release, the Collaborative has launched a three-part podcast series that examines how the process began,...
Williams: Florida Trying to Circumvent ESSA
November 28, 2017
In a column on The 74, New America’s Conor Williams discusses Florida’s ESSA plan – and how the state is “proposing to leave ELLs’ progress toward proficiency out of the state’s system for measuring school quality.” Williams argues that in the “outline of what the...
What Do States’ ESSA Plans Say About Creating More Accountable Schools?
November 27, 2017
In the third post highlighting CheckStatePlans.org peer reviewers’ musings on what they’ve been looking for, wished they had seen, and hoped to see in second-round ESSA plans, we asks the following question: “What do states’ new education plans say about how they will create more accountable schools?”...
ESSA Ready for Summer Vacation (Sort Of)
November 22, 2017
National Summer Learning Association’s Rachel Gwaltney writes that ESSA presents numerous opportunities for schools to use both federal and state funding “to help drive student success with targeted summer activities,” including funding opportunities for “out-of-school learning activities.”
Hess and Bell: ESSA Plans Not Going According to Plan
November 17, 2017
The American Enterprise Institute’s Frederick M. Hess and Brendan Bell write that, with all state accountability plans in the hopper at the U.S. Department of Education, states paying heed to calls for plans to be ambitious has resulted in a “curious quandary: The problem with...
MSI Game-Changer for Military-Connected Students Says Christi Ham
November 16, 2017
November is the Month of the Military Family, and Military Families for High Standards Chairwoman Christi Ham takes a look at the impact of the Military Student Identifier (MSI), which “promises to give states the ability to help ensure the success of military-connected children in...
Fordham Rates the Ratings, Round II
November 14, 2017
In July, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute reviewed the first 17 state ESSA plans submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. This week, they’re back at it, releasing a new report “with an expanded analysis that adds the other thirty-four plans,” which allows them to...
NCTQ Looks (Again) at Educator Equity
November 14, 2017
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released its analyses of educator equity in 34 recently submitted state plans under ESSA, completing the organization’s analysis of all state ESSA plans. These new analyses highlight strengths and opportunities, demonstrating how most are not doing enough...
ESSA Makes Parent Engagement Even More Important
November 10, 2017
Massachusetts educator Jessica Lander writes in The 74 that ESSA “has elevated the importance of parent engagement, setting aside funding and requiring states to develop strategies for effectively engaging with families.” However, for too long, “there has been minimal guidance, training, time, or support for...
Inside the Minds of the Peer Reviewers
November 8, 2017
This week, the Collaborative and the Bellwether Education Partners team brought together 46 peer reviewers to look at the 34 state ESSA plans submitted to the Dept. of Education in September. While the reviews aren’t ready for prime time just yet, the Collaborative’s Ashley Inman provides a...
Brookings Fellow Asks “Where is the Research?”
November 6, 2017
Because ESSA asks states to include “evidence-based interventions” in their plans to turn around low-performing schools, Brookings Institution Fellow Mark Dynarski examined a sample of state ESSA plans – and found that “plans mostly ignored research on what works and what does not to achieve...
Quality Professional Learning for Teachers
October 30, 2017
According to Matt McCullough, director of innovation in teaching and learning at Schoolcraft Community Schools, “my favorite tasks are providing innovative classroom strategies to my teachers and collaborating with them to lead to greater student success.” After reading Educators for High Standards’ recent report, McCullough is...
October 26, 2017
Achieve released a new online tracking tool that “summarizes states’ long term goals for student achievement and graduation rates, along with the accountability indicators and weighting included in states’ plans submitted under ESSA.” The tracker allows users to view accountability indicators in the state’s plan and compare...
Rigorous Evidence of Effectiveness
October 26, 2017
Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, writes on Huff Post that, while ESSA evidence standards “provide clearer definitions of ‘strong,’ ‘moderate,’ and ‘promising’ levels of evidence” than were the case in previous...
New Brief on States’ Efforts to Comply with ESSA
October 25, 2017
In the final installment of the Leveraging ESSA series, Higher Ed for High Standards has released “Shining a Spotlight on K-12 and Higher Ed Alignment in ESSA.” The brief details “the extent to which the both the 34 states that submitted ESSA plans in September 2017...
Educators Weigh in on Professional Learning
October 24, 2017
Educators for High Standards identifies the key components of high-quality, effective professional learning that are laid out in ESSA, and shares how schools and districts can provide educators with the opportunities they need, want, and deserve. In partnership with Learning Forward and Teach Plus, Educators...
Education Reform Assesses Policymakers’ View on Key ESSA Provisions
October 17, 2017
In the third part of Education Reform Now’s series, Charles Barone and Dana Laurens write that “it would be more than a little surprising if a seasoned pro like Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) were to break the deal he made with his Congressional colleagues on...
New America Foundation Education Expert Examines ESSA
October 16, 2017
New America Foundation’s Conor P. Williams writes that, when it comes to ESSA, he can say “I told you so.” The law “combines a thin veneer of civil rights equity with excruciating complexity and uncertain accountability.” Williams argues that it “takes a relatively simple federal...
October 11, 2017
Dr. Andrea Ramirez, executive director of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference’s Faith and Education Coalition, discusses the lack of an equity focus in the state ESSA plans reviewed on CheckStatePlans.org. In The 74, Ramirez argues that, “ESSA represents the potential for each state to...
How the Military Student Identifier can Help Military-Connected Students
October 11, 2017
Collaborative for Student Success Executive Director Jim Cowen and National Math + Science Initiative Vice President of State and Federal Programs Marcus Lingenfelter wrote that one “key factor in the degradation of military readiness involves a very personal element: service members and their young families.”...
Social Emotional Learning as an Accountability Measure
October 9, 2017
ESSA’s “notorious fifth indicator left the door wide open for states to measure student achievement in ways other than academic, but when it came time to choose, social-emotional learning skills were largely ignored,” writes Kate Stringer at The 74 in response to an analysis by...
Education Experts Discuss Senate Committee Hearing around ESSA
October 6, 2017
Hosts of the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Federal Flash, Monica Almond and Nikki McKinney, discuss the recent Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing that examined “the quality of state plans developed under” ESSA. They also discuss how “a key ESSA architect”—former Chairman...
Experts Examine U.S. Dept. of Ed’s Efforts to Enforce ESSA
October 5, 2017
In the second part in a series, Charles Barone and Dana Laurens write for Education Reform Now that, while in the first part, they “focused on ED’s [U.S. Education Department] failure to enforce ESSA guardrails that quite sensibly require state accountability system indicators be comparable...
Next Steps in ESSA Implementation
September 29, 2017
Education Trust’s Syritha Robinson-Clark writes that, as “states move from designing accountability systems to implementing them,” many are asking, “What’s next?” She commented that if “you are a member of a state board of education, the next step is to ‘closely monitor the impacts of...
Fordham Institute Hosts “The ESSA Achievement Challenge”
September 27, 2017
The Fordham Institute is hosting “The ESSA Achievement Challenge” to “identify states with strong plans and distinct approaches and hear state superintendents and education advocates make the case that their work will lead to greater student success.” Attendees will vote on who they think will...
Education Reform Now Calls for Greater Scrutiny of Second Round Plans
September 27, 2017
In an Education Reform Now series, Charles Barone and Dana Laurens argue that as “the U.S. Department of Education (ED) undertakes its second round of state plan reviews under the ‘Every Student Succeeds Act’ (ESSA), it’s a good time to reflect on mistakes made in...
September 27, 2017
The Texas Education Agency submitted its ESSA plan to the U.S. Department of Education. Belton Independent School District Superintendent Susan Kincannon expressed her concern about some aspects of the plan. “The (ESSA) plan includes an overly complicated methodology for evaluating and rating schools and continues...
FutureED Releases New Report on Chronic Absenteeism under ESSA
September 26, 2017
FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, released a new report—“Who’s In: Chronic Absenteeism Under ESSA”—which provides a comprehensive review of the provisions in all 51 state ESSA plans, as well as the results of an analysis of federal chronic...
Research on Fifth Indicators under ESSA
September 21, 2017
Child Trends has conducted “an initial scan of states’ proposed accountability systems to examine how each approached the fifth indicator,” and although “the vast majority of states selected at least one indicator” to “gauge how schools support students in areas beyond academic performance,” a “handful...
NASBE Addresses Equity and ESSA
September 18, 2017
The latest edition of the National Association of State Boards of Education’s journal, The State Education Standard, focuses on equity and ESSA by looking at ways states can build upon their ESSA plans to ensure all students receive an excellent education. In the journal, The Education Trust’s Ryan...
Bellwether and the Collaborative Gearing up for More Peer Reviews
September 15, 2017
Now that almost all of the remaining 34 states have submitted ESSA plans to the U.S. Dept. of Education, the Collaborative for Student Success and Bellwether Education Partners will once again work with an expert group of peer reviewers to analyze these plans, this time...
John Hopkins Education Expert Calls for Transparency in ESSA Plans
September 14, 2017
Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education, writes that if “state leaders are clear about what qualifies as ‘proven’ under ESSA, and clear about how proper supports are also needed (e.g. needs assessments,...
Former Commissioner of Education Urges Ed Officials to Utilize Best Practices
September 13, 2017
Dr. Tony Bennett, former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction and former Florida Commissioner of Education, writes that he strongly urges “state education officials to look to the best practices identified in existing state plans as they create the Sunshine State’s plan – to make sure...
Education Policy and Budget at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce Calls for Stakeholder Engagement
September 13, 2017
Whitney Chapa, vice president of Education Policy and Budget at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, tells Mississippi education leaders that, “anyone with a vested interest in the quality of education here should make sure that policymakers invoke the best practices that we laid out in...
Children Now Examines CA’s ESSA Plan
September 12, 2017
Samantha Tran, senior managing director of education policy at Children Now, wrote that “California’s education plan must be more transparent about student performance.” Her three recommended changes include clearly identifying “if gaps in achievement are closing or are stagnant,” setting “assessment standards so that the...
Updated Review of California’s Draft Plan
August 31, 2017
Bellwether Education Partners updated their interim review of California’s draft ESSA plan. Bellwether’s Chad Aldeman explained that the “interim project was intended as a quick-turnaround, rapid-response analysis, and we did not use the full quality peer review process.” Bellwether and the Collaborative recently “received some...
How to Evaluate Plans for English Learner Requirements
August 31, 2017
According to the Migration Policy Institute, ESSA “mandates that states provide greater information to the public regarding English proficiency progress and academic achievement for English Learners (ELs),” and “encourages states to engage with a variety of community stakeholders during the development of these accountability plans.”...
Governing Magazine New Issue Brief
August 25, 2017
Governing magazine’s new issue brief highlights the Check State Plans research, underscoring how both reports seek to provide useful resources to state education leaders as they develop their ESSA plans. The brief provides an overview of discussions with state leaders in five second-round states—California, Kentucky,...
Interim Reviews of California and New York’s Draft ESSA plans;
August 24, 2017
The Collaborative for Student Success and Bellwether Education Partners have published interim reviews of both California and New York’s draft ESSA plans. These interim reviews, which mirror the first round of reviews conducted by more than 30 education experts in June 2017, encourages California and...
Ed Week Adds New Map to ESSA Plan Tracker
August 23, 2017
Education Week added a new map to their ESSA plan tracker that denotes each state’s status. The map highlights three categories: “one for states that haven’t submitted their plans to the U.S. Department of Education yet, one for states that have gotten feedback on their...
Recommendations to Help Reporters and Editors Get up to Speed on ESSA
August 18, 2017
Alexander Russo writes on Phi Delta Kappan that “mainstream news coverage of ESSA so far has been skimpy & superficial, given how important the new federal education law is going to be in coming years.” However, “there’s still more than enough time for education reporters...
New America has Advice on English Learner Data
August 16, 2017
New America Foundation released two policy papers that address using data on English Learners (EL) “in light of new flexibilities for setting EL outcomes, goals, and accountability metrics under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).” “Seeing Clearly: Five Lenses to Bring English Learner Data...
Chiefs for Change Looks at Curriculum Reform
August 11, 2017
Chiefs for Change released a report examining how ESSA “presents new opportunities for curriculum reform,” which can be a “powerful and underused driver of school improvement.” The report profiles work in Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D.C. to “create the conditions for aligned...
Center for American Progress Looks at Indicators and School Improvement Plans
August 4, 2017
The Center for American Progress examined the 17 state ESSA plans that have been submitted to the Dept. of Education, reviewing each state’s “school classification systems and school improvement plans.” CAP notes that, “carefully choosing which new measures of school quality or student success to...
Fordham Institute “Rates the Ratings”
July 29, 2017
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a report on the 17 state ESSA plans that have been submitted to the Dept. of Education. The report examines the proposed rating systems and found that “in large part, states are doing a decent job in those areas...
Christi Ham Discusses Importance of ESSA for Military Students
July 27, 2017
Christi Ham, chairwoman for Military Families for High Standards, discussed the importance of ESSA “requiring states to identify military students and track their test scores, attendance and graduation rates as they move from base to base and state to state.” While some states have already...
New Handbook Aims to Help LEA and School Leaders Effectively Engage Stakeholders
July 26, 2017
Partners for Each and Every Child and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) have developed a handbook to assist LEA and school leaders as they engage stakeholders to effectively implement ESSA at the local level. Meaningful Local Engagement Under ESSA: A Handbook for...
New Resources on Local Engagement and Advancing STEM Opportunities
July 24, 2017
Education First released a report on states’ efforts to advance opportunities in STEM education under ESSA. The report concluded that while plans did not largely focus on STEM innovation, there were four main policies that continuously appeared. States are including state science assessment results, career...
Do Teachers and Parents have the Necessary Resources to Help Students Meet Goals?
July 24, 2017
Paige Kowalski, executive vice president of Data Quality Campaign, argued that while states are seeking to set large goals under ESSA, “teachers and parents lack a necessary resource to help their students meet those goals: data.” Kowalski advocated for an increase in data because “We have...
Results for America Analyzes ESSA plans
July 18, 2017
Results for America analyzed the 17 submitted ESSA plans to examine how states are using “evidence, evaluation, and continuous improvement” opportunities. The group was “encouraged” by state’s efforts to improve student outcomes, but also noted several “gaps that deserve further attention.” The report found three...
New America Assesses How ESSA Presents New Opportunities for Pre-K Principals
July 11, 2017
Abbie Lieberman, a policy analyst at New America, authored an opinion piece on how ESSA presents states with the opportunity to focus on pre-K principals who are “often overlooked.” Under ESSA, Title II funds can be used to “offer ongoing professional learning opportunities in early...
How ESSA Plans are (or aren’t) Addressing Career Readiness
July 7, 2017
Advance CTE and the Education Strategy Group released a brief examining “where and how career readiness shows up in the first 17 ESSA plans.” The groups found that, “while more than half plan to adopt measures of career readiness in their accountability systems,” several states “missed...
Education Strategy Group Expert Examines U.S. Dept. of Ed’s Responses to States’ ESSA Plans
July 5, 2017
In a Fordham Institute blog post, Ryan Reyna, senior associate at Education Strategy Group, commented that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department “stumbled out of the gate with respect to their initial review of the Delaware, Nevada, and New Mexico’s ESSA state...
How Research-Practice Partnerships has Helped Shaped Programs
July 5, 2017
The University of Colorado’s Bill Penuel and Caitlin C. Farrell note that many parts of the Every Student Succeeds Act “call on schools, districts, and states to select ‘evidence-based programs,’” and that “many state plans now being developed include strategies for meeting these provisions of...
Why an Independent Peer Review of State ESSA Plans is Important
June 29, 2017
Collaborative for Student Success Executive Director Jim Cowen authored an opinion piece in The Hill about the importance of the independent peer review of state submitted ESSA plans. According to Cowen, “ESSA altered American public education by devolving authority from the federal government to the...
How to Best Use Indicators in ESSA Plans
June 29, 2017
Gary Ratner, executive director of Citizens for Effective Schools, wrote on HuffPost about how states can best use indicators in ESSA plans. Ratner argues, “ESSA is inviting States to expand their accountability focus from No Child Left Behind’s failed exclusive emphasis on raising test scores...
How Does your State Measure Up?
June 27, 2017
The Collaborative for Student Success, in conjunction with Bellwether Education Partners, released an independent peer review of the 17 state accountability plans that have been submitted so far, under ESSA. The groups also launched CheckStatePlans.org – an interactive website that spotlights the best elements of...
School Improvement Principles for State ESSA Plans
June 21, 2017
The Council of Chief State School Officers released a “list of school improvement principles that states may want to use to guide their ESSA work.” CCSSO identified Massachusetts and Kentucky as states that have had the “most success at turning around their low-performing schools.” CCSSO also...
CCSSO Responds to Dept. of Education Feedback
June 16, 2017
The Council of Chief State School Officers responded to the U.S. Dept. of Education’s feedback on ESSA plans submitted by Delaware, Nevada, and New Mexico. CCSSO Executive Director Chris Minnich said that the Department’s feedback “raises some concerns for state education leaders.” He noted that,...
Recommendations on K-12 and Higher Ed Alignment
June 13, 2017
Higher Ed for Higher Standards released a new “Leveraging ESSA” brief detailing how the first 17 states to submit their ESSA plans laid out plans to align K–12 and higher education to support long-term student success – as the group had detailed in its previous...
Best Practice Guide on Educator Equity
June 10, 2017
The National Council on Teacher Quality released an analysis and best practice guide of educator equity on the 17 state plans that have been released. Each analysis “recognizes notable strengths, or areas where a state’s work is laudable,” as well as “opportunities or areas where...
How School Districts are Offering Professional Learning Systems under ESSA
June 8, 2017
The Frontline Research & Learning Institute released a report examining how school districts are offering professional learning systems under ESSA. In reviewing more than 200 school districts across the country, the report highlights New York’s Greece Central School District as a “model for professional development that is...
Chiefs for Change Takes a Look at Most Promising Teacher Leadership Efforts
June 5, 2017
Chiefs for Change examined “some of the most promising teacher leadership efforts, and perspectives on how others can learn from those models.” The brief “draws lessons from distinct approaches by Chiefs for Change members — Louisiana, New Mexico, and Tennessee — to elevate the teaching profession,” and...
Learning Policy Institute & National Education Policy’s Brief on Community Schools under ESSA
June 5, 2017
In a new brief, the Learning Policy Institute and the National Education Policy Center argue that “community schools can be an effective school improvement strategy” under ESSA. The groups found that “the evidence base on well-implemented community schools and their component features provides a strong...
Ed Trust Expresses Concerns over State’s Supergroup Methods
June 1, 2017
In a blog post, The Education Trust raised concerns over states’ use of “supergroup” methods for their ESSA plans. “High-need” groups and “lowest performing” groups are “dominating state plans so far.” According to the post, “Using supergroups takes attention away from individual groups of students,...
Learning Heroes Hosts Research Webinar on ESSA
May 31, 2017
Learning Heroes will host a research webinar on effective ways to “communicate school performance and accountability information to parents and guardians in a manner that is accessible and actionable” under ESSA. Learning Heroes worked with Edge Research to “conduct multiple focus groups, surveys, and in-depth...
NASBE Identifies Pros and Cons of Fifth Indicators
May 24, 2017
A new series of policy updates from the National Association of State Boards of Education explores the pros and cons of five frequently discussed indicators: career and technical education, school climate and student discipline, social and emotional learning, chronic absenteeism, and access to high-level course...
Ed Trust Calls Attention to Importance of Setting High Expectations for Low-Performing Schools
May 18, 2017
Education Trust’s Senior P-12 Data and Policy Analyst Allison Rose Socol authored an opinion piece on state efforts for low-preforming students in their ESSA plans. Socol raised concerns that, among the 17 plans submitted to the Dept. of Education, “many are setting expectations far too...
English Learner Policy Trends in ESSA Plans
May 11, 2017
Conor Williams, senior researcher for New America’s Education Policy Program, authored a piece on English Learner policy trends in ESSA plans. Williams raised concerns over state plans that are using various forms of “escalating proficiency targets.” He argues that “this approach to ELs and school...
The Collaborative’s New Blog Series Provides Updates on ESSA
May 5, 2017
The Collaborative’s new blog series “ESSA Essentials” is a great way to help keep you up to speed on some of the key pieces of news, analysis, and opinion on the Every Student Succeed Act. Building on our weekly ESSA Advance newsletter and the UnderstandingESSA.org...
New Analysis on what the Media and Experts have Been Saying about ESSA
May 2, 2017
We’ve officially been releasing the ESSA Advance newsletter for the last year and thought it was time to take a look at what the media, experts, and advocacy groups have been saying. In the new analysis, “ESSA So Far: One Year Analysis of ESSA Media...
25 Organizations Write to DeVos with Guidance for Peer Review Process
April 26, 2017
In a letter to Secretary DeVos, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 24 other organizations urged her to “ensure that children receive the support and attention they deserve through the implementation of ESSA.” The groups raised concern over submitted plans that are...
April 20, 2017
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) released a policy brief examining how states are utilizing social and emotional learning in ESSA plans. The paper suggests five ways for states to successfully incorporate social and emotional approaches: Articulate a well-rounded vision of student...
Thomas B. Fordham Institute Praises DeVos for ESSA “State Plan Peer Review Criteria”
April 17, 2017
Brandon Wright of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute published an article praising Secretary Betsy DeVos for her ESSA “State Plan Peer Review Criteria.” According to Wright, the criteria encourage states to develop an accountability system that goes beyond just measuring proficiency. Through the use of...
New Policy Brief on Leveraging ESSA
April 12, 2017
Higher Ed for Higher Standards, the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of System Heads, and State Higher Education Executive Officers Association released a new policy brief as part of their “Leveraging ESSA” series. The brief identifies “clear strategies for developing aligned K-12”...
Chiefs for Change Highlights Opportunities under ESSA
April 4, 2017
In The 74 Million, Chiefs for Change’s Anne Hyslop highlights the opportunity for states to be innovative in their use of federal funds. Emphasizing that there is bipartisan support for the flexibility in ESSA, she notes that, “flexibility gives states an opportunity to be thoughtful...
Educators for High Standards Releases New Report on Teacher Engagement and Perspectives on ESSA
March 29, 2017
As the first submission deadline for state ESSA plans rapidly approaches, Educators for High Standards released a new report, “Teacher Engagement and Perspectives on ESSA: An Eagerness to Engage and Be Heard.” The report, based on a nationwide survey of classroom teachers and teacher advocacy...
NASBE Launches Database Tracking State Board Activity on ESSA
March 21, 2017
The National Association of State Boards of Education debuted their “State Board Insight Database” designed to track “trends in state boards’ agendas and actions each month” on ESSA implementation. The database is a “library of all information and action items drawn monthly from publicly reported...
March 21, 2017
Eleven education groups sent a letter to the Council of Chief State School Officers “expressing their disappointment” in the Dept. of Education’s decision to remove stakeholder engagement efforts in ESSA plans. The group argued that the “omission of stakeholder engagement as a priority for state...
FutureED Launches New Website on ESSA
March 17, 2017
FutureEd, a non-partisan think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, launched a new website on various education related topics including ESSA examination. The organization is designed to “produce clear, compelling analysis on key education issues” for “policymakers, practitioners, the media, and other...
CAP Raises Concerns over Trump’s Proposed Federal Budget
March 17, 2017
Experts from the Center for American Progress posted a blog opposing President Trump’s 2018 federal budget. CAP said the budget “would dismantle public schools through massive cuts to teacher training, after-school programs in public schools, and transfers of public funds to private school vouchers.” They...
AFT Says Trump’s Proposed Federal Budget Will Negatively Impact ESSA
March 16, 2017
The American Federation of Teachers said that Trump’s budget “takes a meat cleaver to public education” with AFT President Randi Weingarten saying it will negatively impact ESSA’s Title I and Title II funding. Weingarten stated the plan “weakens federal support for job training and employment...
NGA Releases Statement on DeVos’ Simplified ESSA Implementation Plan
March 13, 2017
The National Governor’s Association (NGA) released a statement on Secretary DeVos’ simplified ESSA implementation plan release. According to the statement, the governors are “concerned that the Department’s revised template fails to prioritize proper stakeholder engagement.” NGA has “led national efforts to encourage significant input” from stakeholders and...
Survey Reveals Board Member are “Feeling Encouraged” About Role and Influence through ESSA
March 9, 2017
A recent survey by the National Association of State Boards of Education revealed that board members are “feeling encouraged” about their “role and influence over education policy thanks to more leadership opportunities under ESSA.” Through the law, members are able to offer input on decisions related to standards, assessments, and...
National Education Researcher Database to Launch Fall 2017
March 7, 2017
The University of Virginia in conjunction with the Jefferson Education Accelerator is building a “comprehensive catalog of education research” in response to ESSA’s call for evidence standards. The National Education Researcher Database (NERD) will launch in the fall of 2017 with an archive of more than “10,000 education researchers, including areas of expertise, contact...
New CAP Report Shares Guidelines for Designing School Classification Models
March 3, 2017
The Center for American Progress released a report on designing accountability systems under ESSA. The report’s authors encourage states not to “just comply with ESSA,” but to “take advantage of the flexibility afforded by the law in order to develop classification systems that reflect their state vision for education and that...
Civil and Human Rights Groups Oppose ESSA Regulation Rollback
March 3, 2017
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 30 other organizations sent a letter to U.S. Senators opposing the possible rolling back of accountability regulations. The groups argued these regulations will help schools “faithfully implement the law” and “meet their legal obligations to historically marginalized groups of students including students of color, students with disabilities, and...
March 2, 2017
The Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Strategy Group released recommendations for states as they develop ESSA accountability systems that “value college and career readiness” and “better support all students in achieving success after high school.” According to Matthew Gandal, president of Education Strategy Group, “college and career readiness is not prioritized in school...
Recommendations for Professional Development and Student Engagements Around Assessments
March 1, 2017
The National Task Force on Assessment Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers released a recommendations “for professional development and parent and student engagement around assessments.” The guidance “helps states and districts discover provisions and flexibility in ESSA” and “outlines specific policies, practices, and language that improve individual student...
Johns Hopkins University Launches “Evidence for ESSA”
February 28, 2017
The Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University launched “Evidence for ESSA,” a website that “reviews every math and reading program for grades K to 12” and determines which programs “meet the strong, moderate, or promising levels of evidence defined in...
What ESSA Means for Schools, Systems, and the States
February 23, 2017
Frederick Hess, resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Max Eden, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, authored a book on what ESSA means for “schools, systems, and the states.” The authors “explore conflicts and compromises that shaped the emerging law” and...
Foundation for Excellence in Education Releases ESSA Innovation Playbook
February 16, 2017
The Foundation for Excellence in Education released an ESSA Innovation Playbook designed to “help state policymakers navigate and identify provisions within ESSA” to “advance state priorities including school choice, digital learning, course access and competency-based education.” The playbook outlines six provisions to support local innovation...
Chiefs for Change and Education Resource Strategies Release New Policy Paper on ESSA
February 8, 2017
Chiefs for Change and Education Resource Strategies (ERS) released a policy paper examining how local leaders can “make financial transparency a springboard to real equity and better outcomes for students” under ESSA. The report examined three challenges districts are faced with financial transparency and how...
New Set of Recommendations for State Education Chiefs on Improving Equity Under ESSA
February 2, 2017
The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program and the Council of Chief State School Officers released a set of recommendations for state education chiefs on improving equity for students under ESSA. According to Education Week, the guidelines are a “culmination of months of work by...
American Enterprise Institute Releases “101 Guide” on ESSA
January 31, 2017
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released a “101 Guide” on ESSA, which highlighted the transition from NCLB to ESSA. The goal of the guide is to “introduce ESSA’s broad contours,” but “not to provide comprehensive explanations of the law’s intricacies and ramifications.”
NCTQ Publishes New Report on Teacher Evaluation Systems Under ESSA
January 25, 2017
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) published a new report on opportunities for teacher evaluation systems under ESSA. NCTQ argued that since ESSA does not require “teacher-evaluation systems based in significant part on students’ test scores,” states are “given states flexibility to tinker with...
Organizations Combine Efforts to Improve Teacher Quality
January 24, 2017
As reported by The 74, Learning Forward merged with the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future to “combine their efforts to improve teacher quality” under ESSA. Stephanie Hirsh, executive director of Learning Forward, stated this was “prefect timing” for the groups to join because...
New Toolkit Designed to Help States Plan ESSA Implementation
January 24, 2017
Leading Educators, in collaboration with Education First, released a “State Teacher Leadership Toolkit” designed to help states plan ESSA implementation. The toolkit provides a “playbook” for states to “develop a framework to guide the planning, design, implementation, and assessment of teacher leadership initiatives.” The document...
Education Commission of the States Releases New Policy Report on ESSA
January 24, 2017
The Education Commission of the States shared a policy report on recommendations for states as policymakers develop their ESSA plans. The report represented “big-picture ideas” and offered “state examples and additional resources” for local leaders to use during drafting stages. In the report, the Education...
Johns Hopkins University Launches New ESSA Website
January 12, 2017
In February, the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University will launch a website that “reviews every math and reading program for grades K to 12” and determine which programs “meet the strong, moderate, or promising levels of evidence defined in...
Andy Smarick Discusses State Boards Role Under ESSA
January 10, 2017
In a recent American Enterprise Institute publication, Andy Smarick discussed opportunities for state boards under ESSA. Smarick explained that because board members are drafting their state’s accountability plans, “they should probably resist the impulse to create a streamlined, ‘unified’ approach.” He argues that if the...
The 74 Releases Informational Video About ESSA
January 4, 2017
The 74 released an informational video on the “5 Things to Know About ESSA.” The video highlighted the following points: ESSA reduces federal authority over school decisions and gives it back to the states and local districts. States must still give standardized tests every year...
NEA President Calls for Renewed Commitment to Public Education
January 3, 2017
National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, issued a statement to Congress calling for a “renewed commitment to public education.” By passing ESSA, Garcia argued Congress “acted with the best interests of all students in mind” and should now allow local communities “the room to...
Webinar for Stakeholders Highlights Equity Opportunities under ESSA
December 14, 2016
The Alliance for Excellent Education and Learning Policy Institute held a webinar for stakeholders on equity opportunities under ESSA. The webinar focused on how states can “effectively design multiple-measure accountability systems to assess overall school performance and progress” and “drive evidence-based interventions and continuous improvement.”...
CCSSO Guide Can Help States Use ESSA to Elevate School Leadership
December 13, 2016
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) launched a new guide for states working to elevate school leadership in ESSA plans. The guide outlined the importance of states using Title I and Title II funding to enhance programs for teachers and administration. According to...
RAND Report Shares How States Can Use ESSA to Bolster Principals
December 13, 2016
The Rand Corporation released a report on school leadership interventions under ESSA. The report highlighted various programs’ “success in improving student or other outcomes” and “the level of evidence they meet.” The piece also showcased how schools can utilize Title I and Title II funds...
Policy Experts Urge States to Use ESSA to Focus on Low-Income, High Achieving Students
December 13, 2016
The Center for American Progress, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute issued a letter to governors and chief state school officers urging them to utilize ESSA’s flexibility to focus on low-income high achievers. The groups call for three components to...
AASA Says Dept. of Education Hasn’t Fully Addressed Concerns over Regulations
December 13, 2016
The School Superintendents Association (AASA) issued a statement on the Dept. of Education’s final ESSA accountability regulations. AASA argued the Dept. did not “fully address concerns” over regulations on the summative indicator. The group did, however, find that the final rulings were “much more closely...
How to Design Systems to Support School Quality and Student Success under ESSA
December 8, 2016
Center for American Progress released a report on designing systems to support school quality and student success under ESSA. The group issued four recommendations for states as they develop their accountability systems. States and districts should use a variety of indicators under a broader system...
Website Answers ESSA Questions for State Policymakers
December 7, 2016
The Foundation for Excellence in Education launched a webpage for state policymakers to ask questions on ESSA. The page features previously answered questions based upon the #AskExcelinEd question and answer series, which began with ESSA basics and is “building toward more technical themes.” The Foundation...
How States and Districts Can Improve Their Teacher Evaluation Systems under ESSA
December 5, 2016
Bellwether Education Partners released an analysis for states and districts as they consider changes to teacher evaluation systems under ESSA. The report also examined the “polarizing politics and ideology of teacher evaluation to demonstrate the risks policymakers face” and suggests how to “mitigate those risks.”...
Leadership Conference Education Fund Releases Guide on Advocating for Equity
December 1, 2016
The Leadership Conference Education Fund released the “Every Student Succeeds Act Guide for Advocates,” a guide for stakeholders to advocate for equity in ESSA implementation. The guide includes a glossary of terms, fact sheets, overviews of regulatory processes, state plan regulations, and ESSA reauthorization. The...
ESSA Praised for “Establishing Clear Standards” for Evaluations and Other Measures
November 30, 2016
Thomas Toch, director of the Center on the Future of American Education at the McCourt School of Public Policy, commented on the Dept. of Education’s educator effectiveness guidance. Toch praised the recommendations for “establishing clear standards” for evaluations and using other measures such as “student...
ESSA and Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos’ Education Agenda
November 30, 2016
Elizabeth Mann, a fellow in governance studies at Brookings, discussed the impact that ESSA will have on Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos’ education agenda. Mann concluded that since ESSA prohibits the “secretary from requiring states to adopt specific standards,” DeVos’ best way to impact policy...
Online Tool Helps States Use Title I for Direct Student Services
November 28, 2016
Chiefs for Change debuted online tools to help states use Title I funding under ESSA for Direct Student Services (DSS). The tools seek to help states interested in “targeting funding for innovative approaches.” Chiefs for Change also released a model application, policy paper, and a...
Study Finds Professional Development for Teachers Lacking
November 23, 2016
Frontline Research and Learning Institute found that only 20 percent of professional development and training for teachers meets the definition of “high-quality professional learning” under ESSA. In order for ESSA requirements to be met, professional development must meet six conditions: 1. not a stand-alone, short-term...
What Education Issues Will Be at the Top of the Trump Administration’s Priority List?
November 22, 2016
Education Week examined what education issues will be at the top of the Trump administration’s priority list. The piece argued that states are “ready to push the ESSA envelope” and “people who hate the Obama administration’s draft ESSA regulations” will be a top priority for...
Six Policy Recommendations from iNACOL on Redefining Student Success
November 21, 2016
Education Week highlighted the International Association for K-12 Online Learning’s (iNACOL) recent report on six policy recommendations for states to take advantage of opportunities under ESSA to “redefine student success:” Rethink accountability for continuous improvement; Redesign systems of assessments to align with student-centered learning; Transform systems...
The Effects of Recent State Board of Education Elections on ESSA Plans
November 18, 2016
The National Association of State Boards of Education issued a policy update on the effects of recent state board of education elections on ESSA plans. According to NASBE, due to the “uncertain trajectory of federal rule making around ESSA” and unknown state election results, it...
Resources for for Higher Education Leaders to Leverage ESSA
November 18, 2016
Higher Ed for Higher Standards – in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), National Association of System Heads (NASH), and State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) – released new resources for higher education leaders to “leverage ESSA.” The latest document, “Strategies to Support Student K-12 to...
Online Tool Helps Districts Set Learning Goals, Measure Progress
November 17, 2016
Chiefs for Change, Johns Hopkins School of Education, and analytics firm Tembo launched an online tool designed to help districts set learning goals and measure school progress under ESSA. According to Chiefs for Change CEO Mike Magee, the “Student Growth Simulator” will help “set goals...
TeachStrong Guidance for States to Modernize Teaching Profession
November 16, 2016
TeachStrong developed guidance for states on how ESSA can be used to “modernize and elevate the teaching profession” though Title II funding. They lay out strategies that would “operationalize the nine TeachStrong principles” for states to propose “bold changes” to programs that are designed to...
State Leaders Discuss “Intractable Education Problems” at Hunt Institute Event
November 16, 2016
Education Week covered a post-election ESSA conference hosted by the Hunt Institute, noting that the event focused on “states’ intractable education problems.” Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos (D-WA) raised concern that states are “so narrowly focused on developing the ESSA” that they may “lose sight of...
Using ESSA to Successfully Educate Children in Poverty
November 16, 2016
In a Huffington Post blog, Mark Elgart, president and CEO of AdvancED, raised concern over the election aftermath and the future of ESSA. Elgart argued that many state plans are still being developed and “continue to focus on maintaining a compliance regulatory function of accountability”...
ExcelinEd Playbook Details Four Core Areas of ESSA
November 16, 2016
The Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd) released their first ESSA playbook designed to provide stakeholders with recommendations and resources on implementation focusing on the “four core areas of ESSA:” school accountability, interventions, using ESSA to advance state innovations, and ESSA’s weighted student funding pilot....
NEPC’s Indicators for Support, Safety, and Respect in the Classroom
November 15, 2016
In a policy memo by the National Education Policy Center, William Penuel, Elizabeth J. Meyer, and Michelle Renée Valladares, of the University of Colorado Boulder, provided direction for schools when “selecting indicators” under ESSA that are designed to address “students’ perceptions of support, safety, and...
Fordham Analysis Looks at Accountability for High Achievers
November 15, 2016
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute released an analysis of state accountability systems for high-achieving high school students under ESSA. The report concluded that only four states have “praiseworthy systems”, and an additional four are “moving in the right direction.” The group ranked each state on...
NNSTOY Videos Identify Opportunities for Educators to Engage on ESSA
November 15, 2016
The National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) released a video series on opportunities for educators to engage with policymakers under ESSA. Katherine Bassett, president and CEO of NNSTOY, praised the videos for containing “great strategies for teacher leaders to get in the...
CCSSO and Parent Groups Identify How Parents Can Engage around ESSA
November 14, 2016
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) partnered with the National PTA and Learning Heroes to release two resources – Parent Engagement Guidelines and a Discussion Framework – for states to create stronger parental engagement under ESSA. The organizations identified “effective strategies” needed to...
AEI Panel Discusses ESSA Implementation During the Trump Administration
November 10, 2016
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) hosted a panel discussion on the potential impact the Trump administration will have on education. Panel members discussed ESSA’s timeline and ruled that aside from rolling back a few regulations, states are in control of the law’s implementation. Frederick Hess,...
How Incoming Trump Administration Will Impact ESSA
November 9, 2016
Michael Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, published a blog post on the implementation of ESSA under President-elect Trump. Petrilli argued that the administration would likely “rip up” some regulations that the Obama administration sought to implement. The new administration would likely “go...
Civil Rights Leaders Comment on “Supplement, Not Supplant” Rule, Equity, and Title I
November 7, 2016
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition “charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights,” submitted comments to the Dept. of Education on the proposed “supplement, not supplant” rule. “Resource...
Council of State Governments Midwest Release Policy Brief on In-State Activities
November 3, 2016
The Council of State Governments Midwest posted a policy brief outlining some of the details of ESSA including an estimated implementation timeline and summary of publicly available information from Midwestern state education agencies on their ESSA activities. States in the brief include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,...
CCSSO Proposes Alternative to “Supplement, Not Supplant” Language
November 1, 2016
In response to the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant,” the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a proposal laying out alternative language. Formally submitted through the Dept. of Education’s online comment platform, the new language would “establish important guardrails” in order...
AASA Sends Letter to Dept. of Education on “Supplement, Not Supplant” Regulations
October 31, 2016
AASA, the School Superintendents Association, highlighted a joint letter on the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” regulations, which called them “far-reaching federal mandates” that are “in conflict with the spirit and intent of the underlying statute, which is premised on state and local...
Four Critical Opportunities for States That Are Developing New Testing Programs
October 28, 2016
KnowledgeWorks released “A Better Approach to Assessment,” which includes new resources for states that are developing new testing programs and requirements under ESSA. An infographic highlights the four critical opportunities states have when “developing student-centered assessment systems” that have the “potential to increase engagement, provide...
Hamilton Project Recommends Measurement of Chronic Absenteeism
October 28, 2016
The Hamilton Project authored a report recommending the measurement of chronic absenteeism as ESSA’s fifth indicator, which the authors identify as a choice states must make under ESSA to measure “school quality or student success.” The report evaluated accountability systems under NCLB and how improvements...
ASCD Releases Interactive Map for Stakeholders
October 28, 2016
ASCD released an interactive map for stakeholders to stay informed and engaged during the process of creating state ESSA implementation plans. ASCD says that it is “crucial for educators to be involved” because these decisions impact “accountability systems, professional development and evaluation requirements, and well-rounded...
Five Toolkits to Help Stakeholders Leverage ESSA
October 26, 2016
The Alliance for Excellent Education released five toolkits to help stakeholders “create-next generation high schools” by “leveraging opportunities available” under ESSA. The information provided is designed to “bolster the college and career readiness of all students” and is “changing approaches to student learning by emphasizing...
Progressive Policy Institute’s ESSA Event Focuses on Importance of High Standards
October 19, 2016
The Progressive Policy Institute hosted a panel discussion on the importance of implementing meaningful academic achievement standards for students and schools under ESSA. The panel featured David Osborne, senior fellow and director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s School Project, as well as the...
Chiefs for Change Share How States Can Better Measure School Quality and Success
October 17, 2016
In a new policy paper, Chiefs for Change urged states to “choose research-proven indicators to guide education quality.” The paper, titled “ESSA Indicators of School Quality and Student Success,” analyzed various research methods that states can select to measure school quality and success. Chiefs for...
NEA Webinar Profiles Educator-Led Approaches to ESSA Implementation
October 17, 2016
The National Education Association hosted a webinar with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development on ESSA implementation. NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia argued that educators not only “have the opportunity” to make changes under ESSA, but they also “have the responsibility” to work together...
Educators Site Launches ESSA Resources
October 17, 2016
Educators for High Standards launched ESSA for Educators. Organized by the topics important to educators, EFHS provides concise summaries of existing resources, highlighting exactly what teachers and principals need to know. By clarifying the connection between these resources and classroom practice, teacher leadership, school climate, and...
NAE Launches ESSA-Focused Website
October 14, 2016
The National Education Association launched their ESSA-focused website, aimed to help states “understand the opportunities presented under ESSA and how to take advantage of the flexibility the law offers.” NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia commented that the organization is taking a “leave no state behind”...
CCSSO and Aspen Institute Release Eight Equity Priorities for States
October 13, 2016
The Council of Chief State School Officers and the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program released a framework for states as they work to find “equity in education” under ESSA. The release outlined eight equity priorities for states to implement in order to improve equal...
NTFAET Issues Recommendations on Assessment Systems under ESSA
October 12, 2016
The National Task Force on Assessment Education for Teachers issued a brief on defining assessment systems under ESSA. The group called for states and districts to understand how to “appropriately select, use, analyze, and communicate about the results” of student assessments. The brief can be...
National Association of School Psychologists Releases ESSA Resources and Factsheets
October 11, 2016
The National Association of School Psychologists unveiled new policy resources on ESSA implementation, arguing that in order to provide equal opportunity for all students, “the voice and leadership of school psychologists will be critical.” Resources include factsheets for school psychologists and decision makers, resources from...
How States Can Use Data to See What’s Working for Students
October 11, 2016
The Data Quality Campaign released recommendations that outline opportunities within ESSA “to use data to examine what is working for students—and what is not—to meet states’ education goals.” Within the recommendations, DQC has laid out “Four Policy Priorities,” which are meant to “help states do...
CEP Asks Teacher Focus Group About ESSA
October 11, 2016
The Center on Education Policy conducted five elementary teacher focus groups covering various classroom issues including the implementation of ESSA. Educators from Delaware, Illinois, Utah, and Wisconsin participated in discussions during spring and summer of 2016 and mentioned concerns about the “high stakes of state...
Using ESSA to Expand Personalized Learning in Rural Schools
October 11, 2016
Bellwether Education Partners released a new report on the use of personalized learning in rural schools. The paper called for states to “explore alternative accountability mechanisms” through ESSA’s flexibility in the Innovative Assessment pilot program. However, Bellwether expressed concerns that students and schools are largely...
Six Ways Schools Can Improve Their Accountability Systems
October 7, 2016
David Osborne, director at the Progressive Policy Institute, wrote an opinion piece in US News and World Report citing six ways that schools can improve their accountability systems under ESSA. Osborne argued that “if we want 21st century schools,” districts must be held “accountable to...
Op-ed Examines How to Improve Assessments under ESSA
October 6, 2016
In an op-ed published by US News and World Report, Sara Mead of Bellwether Education Partners examined standardized testing under ESSA, raising questions about whether waiting until third grade to gauge performance is too late to catch under-performing students. ESSA requires annual assessments for students...
EWA Seminar Teaches Journalists “ABC’s of ESSA”
October 5, 2016
The Education Writers Association is hosting a seminar for journalists on the “ABC’s of ESSA” in Chicago on October 6th and 7th. Participants will engage in discussions focused on accountability systems, student assessment, federal funding, and educator retention. More information on the event can be...
FairTest Details Ways States Can Construct New Assessment Systems
October 5, 2016
FairTest released a report detailing ways states can construct new assessment systems under ESSA to “replace testing overkill.” The piece identified the “Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority” pilot program that allows up to seven states to implement new assessment systems that will replace existing standardized tests.”...
How Should States Define School Quality Under ESSA?
October 4, 2016
Chad Aldeman, a principal at Bellwether Education, authored a new report, “Grading Schools: How States Should Define ‘School Quality’ Under the Every Student Succeeds Act.” Aldeman argues that accountability systems are best for states to “signal what it values and how schools should be working...
Report Guides Districts on “Mapping Opportunities for the Arts” under ESSA
October 4, 2016
The Education Commission of the States and the Arts Education Partnership released a new report that gives school districts guidance on “mapping opportunities for the arts” under ESSA. The report identifies ways for states to “achieve goals” within the arts, “share promising examples” of how...
CAP Director Testifies to House Subcommittee on “Supplement, Not Supplan” Rule
October 3, 2016
Scott Sargrad, managing director of K-12 Education Policy for the Center for American Progress, testified in front of the U.S. House Education Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education on the “supplement, not supplant” rule under ESSA. Sargrad argued this new funding provision is...
NASSP Hosts Webinar on Student Engagement and School Environments
September 28, 2016
The National Association of Secondary School Principals hosted a webinar focused on ESSA and student engagement. The session provided insight for viewers into how education leaders and students “can work together” to ensure ESSA “meets the specific needs of their community.” The webinar also explained...
How States Can Leverage ESSA to Increase College Readiness and Competition
September 28, 2016
Higher Ed for Higher Standards, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of System Heads, and State Higher Education Executive Officers Association announced a new series of materials, Leveraging ESSA to Increase College Readiness and Completion. Leveraging ESSA is part...
Results for America Makes Policy Recommendations around ESSA
September 22, 2016
Results for America developed a new webpage featuring the organization’s recommendations and policy approaches to ESSA. RFA recently implemented an “Evidence in Education Lab,” a program to help states navigate the implementation of ESSA. The group also developed a series of ESSA briefing documents to...
Webinar: Ensuring Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement under ESSA
September 22, 2016
The National Association of State Boards of Education, the Hunt Institute and the National Council of State Legislatures held a webinar titled, “Ensuring Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement under ESSA,” where state regulators could listen in to a panel discussion on best practices for engaging important stakeholders...
Civil Rights Organizations Make Recommendations to NY on Accountability
September 20, 2016
In conjunction with Education Trust-New York, an “unprecedented coalition” of 12 education, business, and civil rights organizations, cosigned a policy memo detailing recommendations for the state of New York to use ESSA to create accountability systems that “maintain high standards, prioritize closing achievement gaps, ensure...
CAP and ERS Report Details How to Improve Low-Performing Schools
September 13, 2016
The Center for American Progress (CAP) and Education Resource Strategies (ERS) released a report detailing how states can improve low-performing schools under ESSA. The authors highlight turnaround efforts as a high priority because ESSA “gives states greater autonomy” to allocate Title I dollars to these new...
Could “Supplement, Not Supplant” Present Challenges for Struggling Districts?
September 7, 2016
Chad Miller, director of education policy for the American Action Forum, commented on the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” regulations on the organization’s blog. Miller noted his concern for struggling school districts that could face challenges in funding under the proposed regulations. He...
Would “Supplement, Not Supplant” Create New Hurdles for Districts
September 7, 2016
In an opinion piece published by US News and World Report, Nat Malkus, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute commented on the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” regulations under ESSA. He concluded that the rule could create a “new set of...
Debate Continues over Proposed “Supplement, Not Supplant” Regulations
September 2, 2016
Max Eden, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” regulations contradict the intentions of ESSA in a blog published by The Hill. Eden says the funding provisions will harm the education system by “disrupting school...
Education Officials Critique “Supplement, Not Supplant” Provision
September 1, 2016
Governor’s organizations and school and state officials express concerns over the “supplement, not supplant” provision, which were highlighted by US News & World Report. Noelle Ellerson, associate executive director of policy and advocacy at the School Superintendents Association, argued the rule does not reflect the...
Experts Responsed to Dept. of Education’s “Supplement Not Supplant” Rules
August 31, 2016
Several education experts responded to the Dept. of Education’s proposed “supplement, not supplant” rules, according to the Washington Post. Many praised the intent of the rule, but some voiced concerns regarding the intention and delivery of the new provisions: Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council...
How States Can Help Both High-Achieving and Low-Performing Students
August 30, 2016
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute released a new report detailing how states can take advantage of ESSA to not only help serve “low-performing students” but to also ensure the “educational needs of high-achieving students” are being met. The report recommends four design changes to states’...
Increasing Student Engagement in Performance-Based Assessments
August 29, 2016
A new study from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity’s (SCALE) looks to “provide guidance to educators, assessment developers, and policymakers on how to increase student engagement in performance-based assessments.” The authors note...
State and Local Funding Options for English Language Learners
August 25, 2016
The Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy released a report reviewing the funding options that state and local agencies can use for English learners. Among the programs highlighted, the report included ESSA’s Title III provision that allows states flexibility when improving immigrant...
EdWeek Highlights Key Groups That Have Weighed in on ESSA Drafts
August 24, 2016
Education Week continued highlighting “key groups that have weighed in on the draft ESSA regulations covering accountability.” This week’s summary includes: The National Association of Elementary School Principals, and National Association of Secondary School Principals are concerned that the proposed regulations may inhibit the goal...
NASBE Report Identifies How States Can Use ESSA to Better Help At-Risk Populations
August 24, 2016
The National Association of State Boards of Education released their August Policy Update Series on strategies that states can use to “address the challenges and educational inequalities facing some of the most disenfranchised, at-risk student populations in the country.” NASBE’s series details five “at-risk populations”...
Guide for Schools on Creating Positive School Climates
August 24, 2016
Futures Without Violence released a guide for states and school districts on how ESSA can create “positive school climates, and in particular prevent and respond to the needs of children suffering from exposure to violence and the effects of trauma.” The health and social justice...
Incorporating Physical Education into States’ Plans
August 18, 2016
The American Heart Association sees ESSA as a vehicle for states to “include PE in their plans for a fair, equitable and high-quality education.” AHA’s 2016 Shape of the Nation found “few states [with] a minimum time requirement for PE” while “some schools use PE...
Report Provides Strategies for States to Achieve a “Culture of Excellence”
August 18, 2016
A report from Public Impact provides states with strategies for going beyond the requirements of ESSA to “achieve a culture of excellence.” Arguing that states need a “new approach,” the report details four areas in which states can “substantially increase the positive impact of federal...
ECS Re-Releases Three Key Reports
August 16, 2016
In addition to a comprehensive report filed by the Education Commission of the States on ESSA, ECS re-released three past policy reports related to the new legislation. The first report details ways in which state departments can support student access to education. The second provides...
State Legislator Group Report Outlines Best Practices for Education Systems
August 9, 2016
Members of the National Conference of State Legislators’ Education Study Group released a report outlining best practices from “successful education systems” in various countries around the world. The lawmakers explained how ESSA is an opportunity to implement these practices in the United States education system.
ECS Report Answers Questions about ESSA Implementation
August 8, 2016
The Education Commission of the States issued a comprehensive report on questions and concerns regarding the implementation of ESSA. The report is designed to “provide the foundation for informed decision-making on key issues” for states as they move forward with driving the policy into practice...
State Legislators Meet to Discuss Assessments and Accountability
August 8, 2016
Members of the National Conference of State Legislatures met to discuss ESSA and the “flexibility it provides to redesign state assessments and accountability systems.” Officials reviewed a number of documents while hearing how states are taking “new, creative approaches to educational accountability.” National Conference of...
20,000 Comments Submitted on Dept. of Education’s Proposed Accountability Regulations
August 4, 2016
The Dept. of Education received more 20,000 comments regarding their proposed ESSA accountability regulations. The suggested regulations – “arguably the most controversial and tricky part of ESSA” – are meeting unified resistance on some parts, such as the requirement for schools to be identified for...
Comments Due to Dept. of Education August 1
August 1, 2016
On 8/1, comments were due to the Dept. of Education regarding the proposed regulations under ESSA. Notable comments included: 32 civil rights and education groups filed joint comments on the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed accountability regulations under ESSA. Led by the Leadership Conference for...
Brookings Panel Discusses the Future of Accountability under ESSA
July 29, 2016
The Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy hosted a panel discussion last week featuring Hanseul Kang, state superintendent for the District of Columbia, and Chris Minnich, executive director of CCSSO, focusing on the future of accountability under ESSA. Notably, the event was hosted by...
Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights Calls for Public Comments
July 26, 2016
The Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights published an action alert, calling for comments on the Dept. of Education’s ESSA’s draft rules and urging commenters to demand “accountability for the achievement of all students, parent and family engagement, easily accessible and user-friendly data, and...
Chiefs for Change Submit Public Comments to Dept. of Education
July 21, 2016
Chiefs for Change submitted their public comments on the proposed ESSA regulations to the Dept. of Education. The organization commends the proposed rules for balancing state and local flexibility while maintaining federal “guiderails” to ensure the new law benefits students. Members have also voiced support...
Results for America Releases Resources For States on ESSA Evidence Requirements
July 20, 2016
Results for America, an organization that focuses on programs that “use evidence and data to improve quality and get better results,” produced a series of resources for states and school districts to better comprehend and effectively implement the ESSA evidence requirements. The documents include formats...
Experts Submit Letter to Secretary John King on Key Measures of Accountability
July 20, 2016
More than 40 education experts sent a letter to Education Secretary John King, urging him move away from using proficiency rates as the key measure of school accountability under ESSA. The letter encourages the Dept. of Education to adopt Average Scale Scores and Proficiency Index...
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...
Brookings Report Looks at ESSA’s “Wraparound Services” for Low-Income Students
July 15, 2016
The Brookings Institution has published a report addressing ESSA’s “wraparound services” – programs designed to boost low-income student performance by “developing or securing and coordinating supports that target academic and non-academic barriers to achievement.” Under ESSA, the ability to address barriers to low-income and other...
Brookings Addresses “Supplement, Not Supplant” Provisions within ESSA
July 13, 2016
The Brookings Institution has published a report addressing the current debate over the “supplement, not supplant” provisions within ESSA. The report argues that debate over how much authority the federal government should have on allotment of Title I dollars is missing the actual issue. The...
Brookings Report Looks at Low-Income Students and Impact of ESSA
June 30, 2016
According to a new Brookings Institution report, the impact of ESSA on low-income students is still unknown. The Dept. of Education has not released official guidelines on how states should track student subgroups, including those from low-income families. Traditionally, states have measured this by the...
ECS Publishes Guide on “Well-Rounded Education”
June 29, 2016
The Education Commission of the States published a guide that details “what constitutes a well-rounded education, how [states] ensure students across their state have access to it, and how, if at all, the U.S. Department of Education plans to hold their state accountable to it.”...
International Literacy Association Conference To Cover ESSA
June 29, 2016
The International Literacy Association (ILA) announced that its 2016 Conference & Exhibits in Boston will include a special session on engaging with “the key stakeholders of ESSA.” Participants will learn about the new “flexible funding platform” and how Title I officials, district administrators and literacy...
“Intermediary Organizations” Play Important Role Informing Lawmakers
June 29, 2016
Michelle McLaughlin, president of Knowledge Alliance, authored a piece on the Brookings Institution’s Education Blog that discusses the role of “intermediary organizations” in providing lawmakers with evidence-based research when making education policy decisions. She notes, “honest brokers are needed who can work with stakeholders –...
Report Offers Guidelines on How to Assess the Quality of Standardized Tests
June 29, 2016
Under ESSA, states will receive additional funding to conduct audits on their testing systems ande ensure that they are accurately evaluating student performance. Stanford University’s Understanding Language/Center on Assessment, Learning and Equity (UL/SCALE) released a report that provides insights and guidelines on how to assess...
ESSA Presents Opportunities for Local Libraries
June 29, 2016
The American Libraries Association held a program highlighting ESSA’s new funding mechanisms and the opportunity it could present for local libraries. Specifically, libraries are focused on the Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act within ESSA, which lists public and school libraries...
CCSSO and AASA Applaud Shift of Power Back to States
June 29, 2016
In an Education Dive article, Peter Zamora, director of federal relations at the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Noelle Ellerson, director of policy and advocacy for the American Association of School Administrators, showed strong support for ESSA’s shift of power from the federal...
CCSSO Hopes Dept. of Education Will Move on from NCLB
June 29, 2016
In an interview with Education Week, Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, voiced concern that despite the shift to ESSA from No Child Left Behind, the Dept. of Education will continue to attempt to enforce provisions of the old...
Politics K-12 Survey on “Super Subgroups”
June 21, 2016
The Politics K-12 Team at Education Week surveyed all 50 states regarding their use of “super subgroups” in their NCLB waivers that “can no longer be used in place of individual subgroups of student for accountability purposes” under ESSA. The super subgroups combined smaller subgroups...
NEA Invites Comments on ESSA from Members
June 21, 2016
The NEA is inviting “educators, parents and other community members” to weigh-in on ESSA and help inform the association’s response regarding regulations to the Dept. of Education. NEA’s webpage says that the draft regulations “don’t remove NCLB’s emphasis on testing” and argues that “if the...
NNSTOY Finds States and Districts Lacking Teacher Engagement
June 20, 2016
A flash poll conducted by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) indicates that states and school districts have not engaged teachers regarding ESSA implementation. Seventy-five percent of respondents said their local district had not “held discussions, listening sessions or meetings with...
Learning First Alliance Makes Stakeholder Engagement Recommendations
June 20, 2016
While ESSA puts “states in the driver’s seat when it comes to accountability, teacher quality, and more,” they are also required to engage in significant “stakeholder engagement.” The Learning First Alliance has proposed what proper stakeholder engagement under ESSA should look like. Among their suggestions:...
ASHA Advises Members to Engage Their States on ESSA
June 16, 2016
ESSA will give members of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association “the opportunity to play an important role in providing information to the states as they develop their plans,” according to an analysis from ASHA. The association analyzed how ESSA will affect members in 11 specific areas,...
Webinar: State And District Implementation Methods
June 15, 2016
Education Week hosted a webinar discussing implementation methods that states and districts are using for ESSA. American Association of School Administrators’ Noelle Ellerson called the new law a “significant improvement” and noted that it returns control to the states and local school districts. Peter Zamora,...
Incorporating Authentic Parent Engagement in State Plans under ESSA
June 14, 2016
Widmeyer Communications published a guide, “Incorporating Authentic Parent and Family Engagement in State Plans under ESSA,” which explains how parents and families should properly engage Local Education Agencies (LEA) while they are working to write new plans under ESSA. They have developed a set of guidelines...
Cato Reviews Report on Reducing Poverty and Driving Economic Opportunity
June 8, 2016
The Cato Institute reviewed the House Republican Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity & Upward Mobility’s report on increasing opportunity and reducing poverty. The report highlights ESSA as a major factor in driving economic opportunity. Cato’s blog notes one criticism of ESSA, arguing that “it seems...
CCSSO Guide for States on Engaging Stakeholders around ESSA
June 8, 2016
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has created a guide for states on engaging stakeholders around the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The guide was created with input from a variety of educational partners, including civil rights organizations, the NEA and AFT, and the...
Alliance for Excellent Education Explains the Importance of N-Size
June 8, 2016
Education Week examines Alliance for Excellent Education’s concerns that the accountability regulations in ESSA “would let too many English-language learners, students in special education, minorities, and disadvantaged students slip through the cracks.” The report focuses on a provision that would allow states to pick any...
CCSSO Expresses Concerns over Timeline for State ESSA Plans
June 1, 2016
Council of Chief State School Officers executive director Chris Minnich expressed concerns over the interpreted timeline for accountability plans, Education Week reports. Many states will not be finalizing their accountability plans under ESSA until late in the 2016- 17 school year. This could mean that...
Gov. Wise Op-Ed Reminds States of the Value of Good Data
May 31, 2016
Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and the former governor of West Virginia, authored an opinion piece which explains that “ESSA specifically calls for “evidence-based” interventions, and education leaders will need to study the numbers before deciding which programs to adopt. This...
How ESSA Can Help Homeless Students
May 30, 2016
Think Progress reports that homeless students will greatly benefit from two major provisions within ESSA. First, school counselors are now required to advise homeless students on college application and preparedness. Second, school liaisons are now required to aid in navigating financial aid, and help obtain...
Federal Regs Advisor Reports on the Costs of ESSA
May 29, 2016
Federal Regs Advisor reported on the newly announced ESSA accountability measures. It’s reported that the regulations will cost “just under $75 million for the four-year authorization period for state and local education agencies,” though this will be covered by federal grant funds. However, the nearly...
Alternative Testing Models under ESSA
May 19, 2016
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning released a report offering lawmakers alternative testing models that would adhere to the new ESSA standards. These tests differ from traditional, year-end tests. Read more here.
CAP Releases ESSA Implementation Recommendations for States
May 19, 2016
The Center for American Progress released their analysis of ESSA. CAP gave their following recommendations for implementation: • States should set a vision for their accountability systems and be purposeful about the incentives they create when selecting system indicators; • States must weigh the trade-offs...
Prichard Committee on New Ways to Measure Success
May 13, 2016
Members of the Prichard Committee’s Student Voice Team penned an op-ed discussing their school accountability system proposal for the Fordham Institute’s ESSA Design Competition. Their proposal involves new ways to measure the success of schools. Read more here.
Fordham Event Examines How ESSA Can Help Make Students Better Readers
May 13, 2016
During an event held by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, reading and policy experts came together to discuss how states can use their new flexibility under ESSA to begin to increase students’ reading achievement. The event highlighted the new Knowledge Matters campaign – an effort...
How States Can Use ESSA to Help Dual Language Learners
May 9, 2016
Conor Williams, senior researcher with New America’s Education Policy Program and founder of its Dual Language Learners National Work Group, wrote in The 74 that problems with California’s “Local Control Accountability Plans” and its attempt to help dual language learners could be mirrored in ESSA...
Education First Releases “Making the Most of ESSA”
May 5, 2016
Education First released a newsletter and online tool titled “Making the Most of ESSA,” a reference guide that summarizes important elements of the law and offers advice on how states, school districts and advocates should operate under this new rule. Read more here.
How to Improve Student Achievement and Teacher Evaluations
May 4, 2016
Thomas Toch, Director of the Center on the Future of American Education, released a study outlining the impact of the ESSA rule on education, and provides recommendations on classroom observation, student achievement metrics, professional development, incentivizing principals and teachers, and navigating federal funding. Read more...
CAP Estimates ESSA Implementation Costs
May 2, 2016
The Center of American Progress estimated the cost of ESSA implementation would amount to $6.83 billion in new state and local funds. Read more here.
EdTrust Submits Letter To Dept of Education on ESSA Guidelines
May 2, 2016
Education Trust submitted a letter to the Dept. of Education regarding ESSA guidelines. Ed Trust encouraged the Dept. of Education to “ensure states consider their student achievement goals when deciding which schools need help working with subgroups of students,” and require summative ratings for all...
National Association for Music Education on Well-Rounded Education
May 1, 2016
National Association for Music Education says provisions within ESSA are going to strengthen music courses by including them in what it considers to be a “well rounded education.” Under the law, music programs can now receive more funding as they are now considered part of...
Assessments Estimated to Have Major Economic Benefits
April 29, 2016
Early estimates from three senior fellows at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution show major economic benefits from implementing standardized tests. Read more here.
School Leadership Interventions from RAND
April 29, 2016
The RAND Corporation published a report and commentary describing major ESSA funding programs that can be used to pay for school leadership improvement efforts. Read more here.
Civil Rights Leaders Release Letter on Title I Funding
April 28, 2016
Over 30 civil rights groups – all members of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights – released a letter urging the Dept. of Education to include robust parameters for Title I funding towards underfunded and struggling schools in its ESSA guidelines. Read more...
AEI on the Title I Funding Fight
April 26, 2016
The American Enterprise Institute claimed the comparability provision in ESSA obstructs the goals of “supplement, not supplant” by allowing districts to meet equality requirements using average salaries, not actual teacher salaries. AEI argued this causes large salary deficits between Title I schools and non-Title I...
NYU Announces Education Solutions Initiative
April 25, 2016
NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development announced the Education Solutions Initiative to inform and challenge policymakers to make meaningful progress on resolving the critical issues facing students and educators in the wake of ESSA implementation. They also announced that the group will...
ESSA Toolkit from National Association for Music Education
April 21, 2016
The National Association for Music Education posted an online toolkit showing how ESSA benefits music programs by classifying it as a “well-rounded” subject. Read more here.
Leveraging ESSA Funding to Provide Direct Student Services
April 21, 2016
Chiefs for Change released a new policy paper about leveraging ESSA funding to provide direct student services including tutoring, access to public school choice, distance learning, access to Advanced Placement classes, personalized learning, and other programs. Read more here. Education Week also covered the report...
State Education Agencies and Researchers Can Partner to Improve Student Outcomes
April 20, 2016
The Brookings Institution highlighted how ESSA creates an opportunity for State and Local Education Agencies to collaborate with external researchers to make informed policy decisions. Read more here.
Nine Big Questions on ESSA Accountability Systems from NASBE
April 5, 2016
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) released a memo outlining nine big questions that board members should address prior to adopting a new state assessment system under ESSA. Read more here.
CCSSO, NEA, NGA, and NSBA Send Letter to John King
April 4, 2016
Nine education groups including CCSSO, NEA, NGA, and NSBA sent a letter to Secretary John King asking that the DoE “refrain from defining terms and aspects” of the ESSA “that Congress gave communities the flexibility to determine.” Read the letter here.
NASBE Shares Opportunities for States to Ensure Coherence across Education Policies
March 31, 2016
NASBE issued, “ESSA Provides Opportunity for States to Ensure Coherence across Education Policies,” Press Release highlighting the importance of “consistency across policies to ensure effective, efficient learning systems and successful ESSA implementation.” Read full release here.
Reidy Interactive Lecture Series: The Pandemic’s Impact on Assessment and Accountability
August 1, 2020
In the first completely online Reidy Interactive Lecture Series, the Center for Assessment is focusing on the “implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for assessment and accountability.” Beginning in August and continuing through September, the online series includes webinars discussing the status of summative assessments and...
Join Us for an In-Depth Discussion on ESSA
November 25, 2019
The Collaborative for Student Success is still taking reservations for our special discussion on the Every Student Succeeds Act on the law’s four-year anniversary. If you’re able to make it, this promises to be an informative and interesting event featuring an overview and discussion with...
In-Depth Discussion Looking Back on Four Years of ESSA
October 29, 2019
On Tuesday, December 10, the Collaborative for Student Success is hosting an afternoon discussion of ESSA four years to the day after the law was signed. Taking place at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., this special event will include a conversation with ESSA’s...
How Are ESSA’s Evidence Standards Affecting K-12 Companies?
October 15, 2019
ESSA requires vendors to demonstrate that their products, services, and strategies “focused on school interventions are backed by evidence.” Already, this requirement is having a drastic impact as school districts reexamine contracts with longtime vendors and companies. This webinar will explain what K-12 companies “need...
Leading Resource Allocation Reviews: A Guide for State Education Agencies
September 23, 2019
On September 30 at 11am PT/2pm ET, BSCP Center will host a webinar with Edunomics Lab to provide guidance for states on conducting ESSA-required Resource Allocation Reviews (RARs) to support school improvement. RARs offer a new opportunity for state, district, and school leaders to examine the connection between...
Webinar on Changing Role of Education Finance Leadership
August 19, 2019
On August 27, at 1:00 pm ET, BSCP Center will host a webinar featuring Edunomics Lab to discuss questions regarding ESSA’s financial transparency reporting. Participants “will learn about the new Supplement-not-Supplant requirement for a district ‘resource allocation methodology’ and explore what conducting ‘resource allocation reviews’...
NASBE Webinar: Using Innovative Assessments to Promote Education Equity and Testing Efficiency
August 6, 2019
According to the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), ESSA has “provided new opportunities for creating innovative assessments that fulfill accountability requirements while contributing to learning and teaching.” On August 7, at 3:00 PM ET, NASBE will host a webinar featuring Abby Javurek,...
NNPA Hosts National Black Parents Town Hall on ESSA
July 4, 2019
According to this report from the LA Sentinel, on June 25, the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) hosted a Black Parents’ Town Hall Meeting on Educational Excellence. At the event, stakeholders “engaged in a lively discussion” about ESSA. The event was a part of NNPA’s...
Upcoming Event On Empowering States, Communities for Whole Child Ed
May 13, 2019
On May 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET at the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., the Learning Policy Institute, Alliance for Excellent Education, American Institutes for Research, America’s Promise Alliance, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Opportunity Institute, and Turnaround for...
Education Week to Host Online ESSA Summit Today
May 13, 2019
Today from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET, Education Week will host an online summit that will take a “deep dive” into ESSA and give participants “a unique opportunity to directly interact with reporters and experts about implementation of the nation’s marquee K-12 law.” The...
Upcoming State Report Card Webinar
April 9, 2019
On Wednesday, April 10, the Data Quality Campaign’s Abigail Cohen will join the Hunt Institute to discuss how state report cards have improved during the first year of ESSA. Click here to register.
Webinar: Living With ESSA’s Changes
April 2, 2019
On Tuesday, May 14, 2019, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm ET, Education Week will host an online summit about ESSA’s implementation. Participants will be able “to directly interact with reporters and assessment experts; to watch a live-streamed series of interviews with the reporters after...
Upcoming Financial Transparency Webinar
March 26, 2019
On April 4, at 2:00 pm ET, Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab will host an interactive webinar—”Taking stock in ESSA’s school-by-school financial requirement as SEAs begin releasing data”—which will review ESSA’s financial reporting requirement as states release initial school-by-school expenditures. The webinar will also explore “how leading...
“No Time to Waste” on ESSA Personnel Reporting
January 4, 2019
According to eSchool News, Kronos is sponsoring a webinar on February 6, which will provide information about three primary issues relating to ESSA’s personnel reporting requirements: 1. how “labor impacts ESSA reporting,” 2. the “internal controls to help track time and effort,” and 3. how...
Fordham Institute Hosts “The ESSA Achievement Challenge”
September 27, 2017
The Fordham Institute is hosting “The ESSA Achievement Challenge” to “identify states with strong plans and distinct approaches and hear state superintendents and education advocates make the case that their work will lead to greater student success.” Attendees will vote on who they think will...
Kentucky Announces New Round of Public Forums
March 13, 2017
Kentucky State Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt announced a series of forums for the public to comment on the state’s accountability system under ESSA. According to Pruitt, the comments gained at the meetings “ensure opportunity and access to a quality education for all.”
NY Board of Cooperative Educational Services to Host Forum About Provisions Under ESSA
February 15, 2017
The Board of Cooperative Educational Services will host a forum to discuss accountability provisions under ESSA. Feedback from the event will be used by the New York Dept. of Education and the Board of Regents to draft the state’s plan.
NEA Webinar Series “Building Strong Schools through ESSA” Highlights Oregon
November 16, 2016
The National Education Association (NEA) continues its webinar series on “Building Strong Schools through ESSA” by highlighting stakeholder efforts in Oregon. The series is designed to provide teachers with resources to work with state leaders when designing new state ESSA plans. The next webinar takes...
November 2, 2016
The National Education Association will host its second webinar on ESSA implementation, with a focus on Oregon. To register for the event, click here.
AIR Forum on Nov 1 Will Discuss Implementation of ESSA’s Non-Academic Measures
November 2, 2016
The American Institutes for Research will host a forum for states and school districts implementing ESSA’s non-academic measure on Tuesday, November 1 from noon to 1:15 pm EST. Under ESSA, additional skills can be incorporated into the classroom and states can use “at least one...
iNACOL Webinar on Nov 9 To Cover Personalized Learning Under ESSA
November 1, 2016
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) will host a webinar on November 9 from 2:00pm to 3:00 pm EST regarding opportunities for personalized learning under ESSA. The organization will also discuss an upcoming report on recommendations for lawmakers to support the “transformation of...
WY Dept. of Education Begins Statewide Listening Tour
October 21, 2016
The Wyoming Dept. of Education is beginning its statewide listening tour and published an online survey to continue stakeholder engagement on the implementation of ESSA in Wyoming. “This really is an effort to continue the stakeholder engagement we began this summer with the virtual town...
NASBE Annual Conference to Cover State Accountability under ESSA
October 20, 2016
The National Association of State Boards of Education’s Annual Conference in Kansas City, MO, runs from October 19-21 and will focus on, among other topics, teacher professional development, early education, and state accountability under ESSA. The complete agenda can be found here.
NEA Webinar Profiles Educator-Led Approaches to ESSA Implementation
October 17, 2016
The National Education Association hosted a webinar with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development on ESSA implementation. NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia argued that educators not only “have the opportunity” to make changes under ESSA, but they also “have the responsibility” to work together...
Local Superintendent Discusses ESSA Implications
October 6, 2016
Topeka Superintendent Tiffany Anderson discussed the implications of ESSA during a webinar sponsored by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Schott Foundation for Public Education. She argued that, “it’s now about preparing kids for college and not just taking a test. We’re about serving the whole kid. ESSA...
NASSP Hosts Webinar on Student Engagement and School Environments
September 28, 2016
The National Association of Secondary School Principals hosted a webinar focused on ESSA and student engagement. The session provided insight for viewers into how education leaders and students “can work together” to ensure ESSA “meets the specific needs of their community.” The webinar also explained...
Dept. of Education Releases ESSA Resource Site
September 22, 2016
The Dept. of Education compiled the history, available resources, proposed regulations, guidance and regulatory information, public notice, and negotiated rulemaking on ESSA on their website. The Dept. highlights that “The new law builds on key areas of progress in recent years, made possible by the...
Ed Week Evaluates How ESSA will Affect the Education Industry
August 10, 2016
As part of the Inside ESSA Webinar Series, Education Week will be hosting an online forum discussing the implications of ESSA’s implementation on education companies. The webinar will delve into how the law is being implemented and how it affects organizations working in the education...
Ohio Dept of Education Webinar on Non-Academic Quality Measures
August 8, 2016
The Ohio Department of Education will host the third in a series of webinars to cover focus areas within the ESSA on Wednesday, August 10th. Participants will learn more about non-academic quality measures and share their thoughts with the Department.
House Education and Workforce Committee to Hold Hearing on Recent Efforts to Implement ESSA
June 22, 2016
The House Education and the Workforce Committee will be holding a full committee hearing on ESSA titled “Next Steps in K-12 Education: Examining Recent Efforts to Implement the Every Student Succeeds Act.” Testimony from Secretary of Education John King and four other panelists will begin...