Public Engagement

Angélica Infante-Green has been nominated to serve as Rhode Island’s next education commissioner, reports Dan McGowen for the WPRI Eye Witness News. Although McGowan notes that Infante-Green “comes to Rhode Island at a time when test scores are lagging and achievement gaps are wide,” he…

New Mexico’s Public Education Department is set to begin changes to the state’s standardized test and teacher evaluations. Last week the department posted surveys for local stakeholders to weigh in on the upcoming changes. After the feedback period closes, PED plans to resubmit their state…

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,…

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) has filed a suit against the Wisconsin Education Agency to “determine if SPI/DPI are illegally implementing federal law [ESSA], without the proper state authority,” WILL argues that the Wisconsin DPI, along with other states, have to get…

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…

Jeffrey S. Solochek reports for the Tampa Bay Times that ESSA “placed several new requirements on states, to make it easier for parents to access and understand data about how their schools and districts are performing.” And this week, Florida delivered on part of these…

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…

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,…

New York Urban League President and CEO Arva Rice highlights the Collaborative’s recent review of New York’s ESSA accountability plan, which “found that New York has laid a strong foundation but can still improve the sustainability of its plan.” Rice urges the Governor and legislators…

The New Mexico Public Education Department plans to get rid of the state’s A-F public school grading system, reports Dillon Mullan for the Santa Fe New Mexican. “Under proposed changes to the state’s plan to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, the agency…

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…

Shelby Perea reports for the Albuquerque Journal that new Governor Lujan Grisham is planning “big changes” for “cornerstone education systems” in New Mexico. But before doing so, “the community will get a brief period to weigh in on proposed replacements.” Last week, the state Public…

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…

“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…

According to Idaho EdNews, state Education officials “are asking for the public’s feedback on a series of proposed changes to Idaho’s school accountability plan.” This plan, which is mandated by ESSA, “outlines goals for Idaho’s education system, benchmarks schools should meet and steps to be…

According to AL.com, after multiple delays, Alabama education officials released the state’s second round of school letter grades. “Learning Heroes has been working with and listening to parents for several years” to figure out the best way to present the information, required under ESSA, that…

AL.com reports that education officials in Alabama have once again delayed release of the state’s “unified report card,” in part because of “technical problems with the website but also to ensure the data is accurate, according to Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey.” This is the…

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…

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…

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…

Brenna Bailey reports for the Arizona Daily Star that, while Arizona has long focused on local control of schools, the Collaborative’s Promise to Practice report “says the state’s approach has backfired when it comes to improving its lowest performing schools.” Peer reviewers found that Arizona’s…

The Ruidoso News reports that the New Mexico Public Education Department has “released the first-ever official Educator Preparation Program Scorecards,” which were developed as part of the state’s ESSA plan. The state worked “with teacher-leaders from across the state, leaders of the state’s educator preparation…

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…

According to ABC 6 News, last week, Tennessee education officials released the state’s new school report card. The report card includes a “parent-focused tool that includes school ratings, English-Spanish translation and additional data on student groups among other features.” The state’s report card was put together…

Robert Nott reports for the Santa Fe New Mexican about how the state was given “high marks” for its school improvement plan under ESSA as part of the Collaborative’s Promise to Practice peer review project and report. Peer reviewers found a lot to like with…