On Thursday, President Obama signed the “Every Student Succeeds Act” into law. He’s praising Republicans and Democrats for coming together to pass the long-awaited legislation.
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“It’s a Christmas miracle here, a bipartisan bill”, the president said in his remarks before signing the bill into law.
Joined by lawmakers, students and teachers in a White House auditorium, Obama praised the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind for having the right goals.
“I’m proud to sign a law that will make sure every student is prepared to succeed”, Obama said Thursday.
Durango School District 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger said he is pleased the new legislation will maintain required assessments for third-graders through eighth-graders, and once in high school. Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz – who did not cast a Senate vote on the bill – bashed the new law for letting the federal government get too involved in education once again.
She said the law affirms that education is a civil right, “and it will fuel our own promising efforts in Minnesota to close achievement gaps and improve outcomes for all students, no matter where they live or what their economic circumstance”.
Schools will still be responsible for how their students perform under the ESSA, but it will now be up to individual states to determine how to enforce penalties for student performance.
The legislation reduces the federal government’s control over the nation’s public schools by transferring decision-making power back to state and local governments in areas such as school performance and accountability.
“The inclusion of these proposals in the Every Student Succeeds Act will provide greater opportunities for at-risk youth and keep them on a solid track to success”, said Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) in a release on Wednesday.
It’s being called the biggest change to education in 15 years.
In conclusion, McCluskey says the ESSA is “probably” better than No Child Left Behind – “but that isn’t saying a whole lot”.
Every Student Succeeds replaces No Child Left Behind’s “adequate yearly progress” federal accountability system with a state-designed accountability system. Holding everybody to high standards for teaching and learning, empowering states and school districts to develop their own strategies for improvement, dedicating resources to our most vulnerable children.
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The measure encourages the country’s 50 state governments to set caps on the amount of time students spend taking tests and limits the high stakes nature of the testing for underperforming schools.
