The Every Student Succeeds Act shifts much–though not all–of the responsibity for testing and accountability to the states. States have more flexibility, if they choose to exercise it. Many states, lacking imagination or thoughtfulness, will continue to do what the Department of Education and NCLB forced them to do.
NY Chalkbeat here explains how ESSA will affect education in New York. You can translate this to your own state. The state can no longer say “the Feds made me do it.”
Mercedes Schneider did a neat job of locating the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It was 32 pages long.
The new Every Student Succeeds Act is 1,061 pages long. Nothing wrong with that, except not many people have the time to read such a lengthy and complicated piece of legislation. That is not good for democracy. When a law is so complex that educated citizens do not have time to read it, only those with a strong interest read the parts that affect them.
And the original bill included this clear language:
Near the end of the 1965 ESEA document is the following:
FEDERAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION PROHIBITED SEC. 604. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed or published instructional materials by any educational institution or school system.
Arne Duncan has certainly pushed the envelope on this one.
The main purpose of the original ESEA was equitable resources for the poorest students. Title I.
Title I has survived, but ESEA has morphed into a testing and accountability bill, especially since 1994, when states were required to develop standards and accountability systems. Then came the horrible NCLB, which created unprecedented demands for testing and accountability, enforced by the federal government with threats of cutting off federal aid.
Now ESSA returns to the states the decisions about how to use the results of tests, but it still mandates annual tests and 95% participation. Sadly, only 1% of students with disabilities will qualify for exemptions from state testing.
It has been a long journey, and it is not over yet.
After the passage of fifty years and many federal dollars, poor and black children continue to sit in overcrowded classrooms and to lack the basic necessities of schooling. If you don’t believe me, read this graphic portrait of Philadelphia’s filthy public schools. What suburb would permit such horrific conditions?
Politico reports that President Obama will sign the Every Student Succeeds Act today, right now, this morning, wasting no time. ESSA is an unusual example of both national teachers’ unions working closely with the GOP majority in Congress. The unions are enthusiastic about the bill and lobbied Congress heavily to remove AYP and other obnoxious features of NLB and Race to the Top.
Here is Hillary’s take:
– Democratic 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton praised the bill, saying it wasn’t perfect, but it “retains a commitment to high academic standards, enables communities to strike a better balance on testing, requires districts and states to take action to turn around struggling schools, and allows states to take a holistic approach when measuring school success.” One of her Democratic opponents, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, sat out the Senate’s vote today. So did two Republican candidates, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, although the latter put out a statement denouncing the bill. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, another 2016 contender, was one of 12 senators who voted no. Kimberly Hefling with more: http://politico.pro/1RFsP08.
– Some sharp eyes noticed that Clinton praised the bill for making resources available to “expand high-quality public charter schools.” Was this a deliberate attempt to tone down her rhetoric? Clinton has been a long time charter supporter, but issued a pretty strident rebuke to the sector last month [http://politi.co/1HsRpP4].
– As Obama signs the bill , the White House is releasing a report of progress made in K-12 education since he took office and how ESSA will cement that progress. The report: http://bit.ly/1lwetDg.
The Every Student Succeeds Act strips away the Secretary of Education’s authority to involve himself or herself in state and local matters. It diminishes the federal role in education. It is a direct repudiation of Arne Duncan’s insistence on imposing his whims and wishes onto state policies.
Yet, Arne Duncan says he is very pleased with the new law!
Here is Peter Greene’s analysis. Of course, with a bill that is more than 1,000 pages long, there is room for interpretation, but it is hard to see an interpretation here that enables anyone to see this bill as confirmation of the principles of Race to the Top. If the states want to continue its bad policies, they are free to do so. If not, not.
Greene writes:
So Duncan leaves as he came– making word-noises that actually sound pretty good, but are attached to policies and a reality that does not reflect them at all. Duncan never held himself responsible for the progress of students, choosing instead to blame bad, lazy teachers and low-information parents (so long, white suburban moms) and a Congress that wouldn’t behave as he wanted it to. He never held himself responsible by bothering to see if there was a lick of real research and support for any of his favored policies, from “high standards” to VAM-sauce teacher evaluations to the fundamental question of how schools could be held responsible for erasing the effects of poverty and special needs while states could not be held responsible for getting those schools the resources and support they needed. Duncan leaves as he arrived– eyes fixed on some alternate reality while in the real world, he hacks public education to bits and sells off the pieces.
And he’s perfectly okay with ESSA. That is not a good sign.
I don’t share Greene’s fear that ESSA preserves any part of Duncan’s toxic legacy. I think this is a case of making lemonade out of lemons, or putting a positive spin on what amounts to a punch in the face.
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