President Obama signed what’s called the Every Student Succeeds Act that replaces the No Child Left Behind standards that have dominated education for more than a decade.
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With the stroke of a pen, President Obama leaves behind “No Child Left Behind” for the “Every Students Succeeds Act”.
That’s instead of Washington mandating what critics had dubbed a one-size-fits-all approach to governing the country’s 100,000 public schools. And he didn’t apologize for how Education Secretary Arne Duncan implemented it. “Sometimes, in the nicest possible way, he’s gotten on people’s nerves because he’s pushed them and prodded them”, Obama said. It requires schools to test 95% of students every year from the third through eighth grades, and again in high school. New York City depends upon the law’s Title I provisions to bridge the gap between children from low-income families and those whose families are more affluent.
In a media release, KNEA President Mark Farr said, “The dedicated professionals working in Kansas public schools continue to push for what’s best for all students.
I appreciate that this legislation restores the proper balance between the role of states and the federal government in education accountability”, Wise said in a statement.
ESSA gives states greater control over education decisions and how to handle underperforming schools.
Barber says the new education act is long overdue, “That’s a model we’d like to see our state follow”. One of the ways that No Child Left Behind failed, in my view, was that it set very high expectations but didn’t actually give the local school districts the tools to get to those expectations.
The new law, which passed the House and Senate with rare, resounding bipartisan support, would also expand access to high-quality preschool.
And although students will still take statewide reading and math exams, the amount of time spent taking tests will be limited.
Gridlock is usually the norm on Capitol Hill but the President welcomed this bipartisan effort to fix the “No Child Left Behind” education initiative. “And then various states had their various teacher certification requirements at the same time, so it was kind’ve a double target for folks to shoot at”.
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· Preserve annual assessments and reduce the often onerous burden of unnecessary and ineffective testing on students and teachers, making sure that standardized tests don’t crowd out teaching and learning, without sacrificing clear, annual information parents and educators need to make sure our children are learning.
