Gone will be the often-criticized nationwide target of 100 percent student proficiency, uniform penalties for falling short of targets and federal dictates on how to turn failing schools around.
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As that deadline approached, and without action to update the law by Congress, the Obama administration began offering waivers to states, leading to accusations that the Department of Education had circumvented the legislative process and enticed education leaders around the country to adopt the Common Core State Standards.
The No Child Left Behind Act increased the role of the federal government in elementary and secondary education holding schools responsible for the academic progress of all its students – particularly focusing on poor, minority and special education students and students for whom English is a second language.
But not everyone was convinced the ESSA was really a reform bill or a true solution to problems plaguing modern education. The new law also would end the accountability system that placed federal sanctions on schools if they did not meet standards and would also provide grants to fix the lowest-performing schools. “We now call on the Senate to follow suit and swiftly pass this piece of landmark legislation”.
In Washington on Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill, dubbed the Every Student Succeeds Act, which is aimed at restructuring how schools are graded on student performance. “We believe numerous provisions now being considered complement our state’s policies”. The Senate plans to take its vote next week.
Students in grades 3-8 and 11 will still take annual standardized tests in math and reading.
The White House said the bill would “reduce over-testing and one-size-fits-all federal mandates”, though some conservative lawmakers argued that it would not go far enough, and they voted against it. And it helps to support and grow local innovations, including for evidence-based and place-based innovations developed by local educators and leaders, consistent with our i3 and Promise Neighborhoods programs; and for the expansion of high-quality charter schools, serving high-need students.
In her interview with the Connecticut Mirror Wednesday, Wentzell said the question of whether to continue to factor student performance into teacher evaluations will be left up to the Performance Evaluation Advisory Council, a state-appointed panel of education stakeholders that sets teacher evaluation policy.
“Now, more than ever, individual states must assert their significant but underutilized authority to reject continued federal intrusion in what should be local education policy”.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, a Crockett County Republican, said the bill would return important classroom decisions to the states.
OR was granted a waiver that “allowed us to create an accountability system that better met the needs of OR schools and districts”, said department spokesperson Crystal Greene.
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Those who did vote for the bill said they did so to give states and parents more control over education.
