The Biden Education Department has approved requests from Michigan officials to pause a number of accountability measures amid the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move was in line with flexibilities offered by the department in national guidance released in February. Federal officials are still...
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...
Georgia education officials have opened a public survey on proposed changes to the state’s mathematics standards. After a year-long delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Board of Education plans to vote on the proposed standards by late spring. The changes to the standards,...
Kentucky officials have clarified guidance for schools and districts on the state’s plan for administering spring assessments this year and using the results to inform instruction, guide supports, and depict pandemic learning loss. Education Commissioner Jason Glass, discussing Kentucky’s assessment plan in light of updated...
After announcing plans to continue pursuing a waiver of federally required statewide assessments despite Education Department guidance saying such requests would not be approved, the New York Board of Regents has stated a contingency plan. In the event the Department rejects plans to cancel NY...
Under a proposal being considered by New Jersey lawmakers, schools would be able to provide special education services for an additional year beyond what is required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. By maintaining eligibility for students through the age of 22, as would...
Montana has released federally required school report cards for the 2019-20 school year, while flagging that some key data points that typically rely on student test scores would be missing as assessments were canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the missing data,...
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...
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...
Continuing the national conversation around the role of state school accountability systems during the pandemic, Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would revamp the state’s approach to accountability by reconsidering state “takeovers” of the lowest performing schools, re-weighting A-F school grades, and developing a...
