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, federal, and state accountability systems.” But three states (Colorado, Florida, and Indiana) are showing just how hard it is to make this goal a reality across the board. After months of “failed negotiations” with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, these three states still have not been able to come up with ways to align their state’s educational priorities with ESSA’s provisions, so “their schools next year will be ranked twice over: once for federal accountability purposes, and once for their state’s.”