The Washoe County School District (WCSD) is praising the passage of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and signed by President Barack Obama this morning.
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Obama called the ESSA “an early Christmas present” and a “Christmas miracle” as a bipartisan bill. That’s been one of the things that has been at the root of some of the places that have had big disputes over teacher evaluations, so I think it takes a very positive step in that direction.
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Senate Republican negotiator of the bill. Schools will now be judged on other factors including high school graduation rates, helping English language learners reach proficiency, and student access to higher-level coursework, art, music and counselors. While the White House says the new law will “reduce the often onerous burden of unnecessary and ineffective testing”, a key federal testing requirement will remain on the books.
During the public signing, Obama said the Bush-era NCLB law had the right goals, but in practice fell short and used a cookie-cutter approach. “We have to make the promises of this law a reality”. However they say the bad part is the hidden words as well as the federal government having too much say in education.
Murray, a former preschool teacher, said the legislation would still hold under-performing schools responsible, but would leave it to the states to decide how to do that. Teachers’ unions hated that previous idea, saying the high stakes associated with the tests were creating a culture of over-testing and detracting from the learning environment.
Many students could be heading back to crowded classrooms this year as the nation faces a major teacher shortage.
Because South Dakota now has a public school accountability system based on three components, Graves said the state could take no further action regarding accountability and remain in good standing.
Don’t start applauding yet, kids.
The Every Student Succeeds Act will require testing of reading and math for all students in grades 3 through 8, plus once in high school.
Burr’s office said the reworked formula should mean an extra $24 million annually to North Carolina schools, phased in over seven years.
No more Common Core – maybe.
Already, some states have begun backing away from Common Core.
The “Every Student Succeeds Act” now replaces the largely criticized “No Child Left Behind Act”.
“It moves the responsibility for and the flexibility back to the state school boards, parents, teachers”, said Capito.
It’s now up to the states.
Barber says, “State test scores do not measure the impact teachers have on students”.
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Charles McNulty, Waterloo Community Schools’ associate superintendent for educational services, said he appreciated “the notion of returning to more local control” in the new law.
