This Week鈥檚 ESSA News: Equity, Social-Emotional Learning, and Angst Among the States
;)
Education news and commentary, delivered right to your inbox.
Sign up for 麻豆精品 newsletter.
This update on the Every Student Succeeds Act and the education plans now being refined by state legislatures is produced in partnership with ESSA Essentials, a new 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.)
There鈥檚 angst in the air this week when it comes to the ESSA.
As Education Week鈥檚 Daarel Burnette II , after 鈥渇ailing to convince their own education departments to amend鈥 their state plans, 鈥渆lected leaders in a handful of states have appealed directly to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to reject those plans.鈥澛燗pparently, not all local officials were on board with the final聽plans sent to the feds, fomenting a continuing backlash in a number of states.
One of these is Pennsylvania, where the Altoona Mirror that state Sen. John Eichelberger says the commonwealth鈥檚 Department of Education 鈥渋gnored the recommendations of legislative committee chairmen.鈥 Eichelberger has written to DeVos 鈥渁sking her to take another look at the Pennsylvania Department of Education鈥檚 plan.鈥
Some State Leaders Urge Betsy DeVos to Reject Their Own States’ ESSA Plans
鈥 StateEdWatch (@StateEdWatch)
Meanwhile, in Alabama, after a hurricane-related delay, the state education board is set to vote on the ESSA plan. But not everyone is happy about it, WSFA 12 News, with some parents speaking out against the plan because they say it 鈥渆xcludes kids from the evaluation plan.鈥
And in New York, the state鈥檚 high school graduation rate 鈥渕ay take a hit due to an under-the-radar provision in鈥 ESSA, Chalkbeat. The law 鈥渞equires states to count only 鈥榮tandard鈥 diplomas earned by a of students or honors diplomas,鈥 which means it is possible 鈥渢hat definition would exclude New York鈥檚 鈥榣ocal鈥 diploma, a less rigorous option earned by of graduating students.鈥
This Thursday, Alabama’s state school board will likely approve their plan:
鈥 ESSA Updates (@ESSA_Update)
Chalkbeat鈥檚 Matt Barnum also if, as schools 鈥渁cross the country are about to be held accountable for student attendance,鈥 it will increase 鈥渢he risk that schools will try to manipulate鈥 attendance data.聽Hopefully not, since chronic absenteeism makes up only 鈥渁 small portion of the accountability system,鈥 so the 鈥渋ncentives for cheating may not be strong.鈥 However, as Barnum notes, 鈥減ast experience with evaluation systems suggests that a small number of schools will resort to unscrupulous means.鈥
Plenty more ESSA updates below.
Equity is absent from ESSA plans 鈥 and Ed Trust discusses what state boards can do about it
Writing in 麻豆精品, Andrea Ramirez, executive director of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference鈥檚 Faith and Education Coalition, the lack of focus on equity in the first 17 state ESSA plans reviewed on . Ramirez argues that 鈥淓SSA represents the potential for each state to forge a bright future for all its students and to experiment with new and innovative ideas that might eventually transform the way we approach education across the country.鈥 But if state plans 鈥渇ail to effectively address ways of ensuring a high-quality education for students who need the most help,鈥 we 鈥渞isk creating a perpetual second-class citizenship.鈥
What we’re reading this am: via : State Ed. plans lack focus.
鈥 Ed Trust Midwest (@EdTrustMidwest)
The Education Trust鈥檚 Syritha Robinson-Clark an article by Ed Trust鈥揥est Executive Director Ryan Smith and Ed Trust Vice President of P-12 Policy and Practice Lillian Lowery. As 鈥渟tates move from designing accountability systems to implementing them,鈥 many are asking, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 next?鈥 Well, if 鈥測ou are a member of a state board of education, the next step is to 鈥榗losely monitor the impacts of these policies and push for any needed course corrections to maximize improvement for all groups of students.鈥 鈥
plans should reveal, not mask a school’s inequities & hold schools accountable for ALL groups of students
鈥 The Education Trust (@EdTrust)
Social-emotional learning as an accountability measure 鈥 even if it鈥檚 not in state plans
When ESSA was enacted, 鈥渟peculation swirled that states might use it as a launching pad to use measures of students鈥 social and emotional competencies to determine whether their schools are successful.鈥 However, writes Evie Blad in , we are a couple of years down the road now, and 鈥渘ot a single state鈥檚 plan to comply with the federal education law鈥 calls 鈥渇or inclusion of such measures in its school accountability system.鈥 This raises a few eyebrows, as well as questions such as, did 鈥渂ackers of social-emotional learning miss a chance to encourage wider adoption of its strategies?鈥 Or 鈥渄id they avoid the concerns and pitfalls that would have come with attaching it to high-stakes accountability?鈥
Not so fast, 麻豆精品鈥檚 Kate Stringer. Stringer agrees that ESSA鈥檚 鈥渘otorious fifth indicator left the door wide open for states to measure student achievement in ways other than academic,鈥 but when 鈥渋t came time to choose, social-emotional learning skills were largely ignored.鈥 But 鈥渏ust because states don鈥檛 include social-emotional learning as an accountability measure doesn鈥檛 mean they haven鈥檛 incorporated it into their ESSA plans.鈥 For example, to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), 鈥淢assachusetts will include SEL training in its professional development for teachers, Connecticut will use federal funds to improve learning environments in schools, and South Carolina incorporates skills like 鈥榮elf-direction鈥 and 鈥榩erseverance鈥 in its graduate framework.鈥
Fed accountability may not be place for , as analysis shows most states ignored in plans.
鈥 麻豆精品 (@The74)
More scrutiny of second-round plans, continued
, we told you about Charles Barone and Dana Laurens鈥檚 two-part piece calling for closer examination of second-round ESSA plans by the U.S. Education Department. In part one, they 鈥 that quite sensibly require state accountability system indicators be comparable and statewide.鈥 They鈥檝e since released , which focuses on a 鈥渟econd set of equally sensible and necessary ESSA requirements 鈥 that ED has also chosen to ignore,鈥 which 鈥渟tipulates that all state accountability systems incorporate student proficiency on annual state assessments in math and English Language Arts.鈥 But as one can see from their 鈥, proficiency is a required accountability system indicator, both for all students and for groups of historically disadvantaged students, as are goals for closing proficiency gaps between the latter groups of students and their more advantaged peers.鈥
Read Part 2 on ‘s Failure to Enforce : Abandoning Proficiency Benchmarks Takes the 鈥淓very鈥 Out of ESSA
鈥 Dana Laurens (@danadlaurens)
Did you use this article in your work?
We鈥檇 love to hear how 麻豆精品鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.