社区黑料

This update on the Every Student Succeeds Act and the education plans now being implemented by states and school districts is produced in partnership with ESSA Essentials, an ongoing series from the Collaborative for Student Success. It鈥檚 an offshoot of their聽聽newsletter, which you can聽! (See our recent ESSA updates聽from previous weeks right here.)

To comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act鈥檚 requirement for 鈥渟tates to include non-academic factors in judging schools鈥� performance,鈥� three-quarters of states added student absenteeism to their accountability systems.

However, as a new report from details, some states are also using annual surveys to assess school climate and student engagement and 鈥渁re using the results to gather information to inform school-improvement work,鈥� while others 鈥渁re going further, holding schools accountable for the results, despite widespread concern among researchers that these tools were not intended for that purpose and are not reliable enough to determine school quality.鈥�

Additionally, 鈥渕any researchers fear that attaching higher stakes to surveys could tempt schools to manipulate results, further reducing the instruments鈥� value to principals and other school staff.鈥�

In their report, FutureEd examined state accountability plans approved by the U.S. Department of Education and interviewed state officials to determine how they are measuring these factors and how they are using the survey results to 鈥渃alculate a score as part of an accountability rubric used to identify struggling schools.鈥�

Here are the week鈥檚 other top headlines for how states are continuing to implement the nation鈥檚 new education law:

Maryland county schools score high ratings 鈥� though middle schools struggle to stand out

In Maryland鈥檚 of its star-rating system 鈥� which was implemented under ESSA 鈥� schools in Frederick County all received at least three stars in the 2019 school report cards. It was one of only 13 counties in the state that saw such results. In total, 鈥淔rederick County had eight schools receive three-star ratings, 37 schools receive four-star ratings and 16 schools receive five-star ratings.鈥�

At the same time, not one of the five-star ratings went to a middle school in the county, prompting Frederick County Public Schools Superintendent Terry Alban to say that academic performance at the middle school level continues to be a focus.

More states embracing evidence-based interventions

As Jed Herrmann reports in聽, ESSA is a key example of 鈥渓andmark bipartisan legislation that is helping identify and invest in what works鈥� in K-12 education by increasing 鈥渢he use of rigorous evidence鈥� to improve results. ESSA 鈥渞equires state education agencies to invest 7 percent of their federal funds allocated for improving basic educational programs … in evidence-based interventions.鈥�

States such as Nevada are even building on this requirement, expanding the use of evidence-based interventions and seeing 鈥渋mproved results in the form of early increases in test scores,鈥� with proficiency on the rise in 鈥渘early all students from third to eighth grades.鈥�

A year away from ESSA 2.0: how lawmakers can strengthen the law during reauthorization聽

The Every Student Succeeds Act will need to be reauthorized after the 2020-21 school year, and, as outlines here in 社区黑料, this presents a great opportunity for Congress to strengthen the law.

Among his recommendations, Williams suggests that lawmakers 鈥渃onsider deeper centralization of public education,鈥� partly by increasing federal funding for public education. He also urges them to 鈥渃onsider revamping federal accountability鈥� by adding more specificity into the law and dramatically expanding 鈥渢he amount the federal government spends on public education,鈥� with the goal of increasing access to early childhood education.

Finally, Williams argues, ESSA should 鈥渁void mandating priorities that federal policies are bad at advancing鈥� and refocus resources and energy 鈥渙n issues that federal mandates can actually address.鈥�

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