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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.)

This past month, the U.S. Department of Education that schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic can bypass standardized testing for the 2019-20 school year. After receiving a 鈥減roper鈥� request, the Department 鈥渨ill grant a waiver to any state that is unable to assess its students due to the ongoing national emergency, providing relief from federally mandated testing requirements for this school year.鈥�

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos noted in the release announcing the waivers that “neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time鈥� and that 鈥渟tudents are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this environment.鈥�

She added: 鈥淥ur actions today provide turnkey flexibilities for state and local leaders to focus on the immediate needs of their students and educators without worrying about federal repercussions.鈥�

The Department has given 鈥渂orrowers with student loans the option of suspending payments.鈥� Those with federal student loan debt can request a postponement of payments for at least 60 days. All borrowers, 鈥渞egardless of whether they choose to postpone their payments,鈥� will see their interest rates set at zero for at least 60 days.

Beyond testing, here are the week鈥檚 other top headlines for how states are implementing (and innovating under) ESSA:

Illinois introduces arts as weighted indicator in state score聽

The Illinois State Board of Education recently to 鈥渋nclude arts as a weighted indicator of K-12 success in its school accountability metrics under the Every Student Succeeds Act.鈥� Only a few states include the arts as part of their ESSA accountability metrics, and none include them as weighted indicators of success for all grades K-12.

Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, the arts 鈥渋ndicator will equal 5% of every school鈥檚 total score.鈥� The vote marked a big win for arts education advocates, including Arts Alliance Illinois Executive Director Claire Rice, who says the 鈥渁rts teach students to think critically and solve problems creatively. Arts learning also enhances student engagement and helps with social and emotional development.鈥�

A new way to use graduation rates to benchmark schools with similar demographics聽

In , Erica Blom and Theresa Anderson argue for the use of regression-adjusted graduation rates to compare schools 鈥渁gainst other schools with similar demographics, allowing for fairer comparisons.鈥� This, they say, 鈥渁llows the performance of entire schools to be meaningfully compared without having to compare each subgroup separately.鈥�

The subgroups refer to the 鈥渇our different dimensions鈥� that the Every Student Succeeds Act requires schools to break out graduation rates into: economic disadvantage, race or ethnicity, English language learner and disability status.

While questions regarding implementation remain, adjusting graduation rates for student disadvantage would allow for a more direct comparison of schools with similar demographics, which would be, the authors say,聽 鈥渁 good first step to make quality measurement more accurate and fair.鈥�

Coronavirus absenteeism鈥檚 impact on accountability 鈥� and equity

Phyllis W. Jordan writes at both FutureEd and 麻豆精品 about the spread of coronavirus and how the need for social distancing is posing real challenges for states that use chronic absenteeism as a factor for determining school performance and accountability.

鈥淐urrently,鈥� she writes, 鈥�36 states and the District of Columbia use some definition of chronic absenteeism in assessing schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act.鈥� Additionally, she notes, 鈥渢here鈥檚 also an equity dimension that coronavirus-inspired school closings need to address,鈥� as low-income and disadvantaged students are less likely to have the resources to replace lost school time 鈥� including internet access.

Some states 鈥� such as Washington, California and South Carolina 鈥� are finding 鈥渃reative solutions鈥� to address these equity concerns.

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