This Week’s ESSA News: Tennessee Gets Creative on School Ratings, Opt-Outs Give Utah & New York Trouble, Leveraging Results From Innovation Investments & More
We present an updated report on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the revisions made by state legislatures to their education plans. This report is brought to you in association with ESSA Essentials, a new series from the Collaborative for Student Success. It is an extension of our ESSA Advance newsletter, which you can subscribe to here! (To catch up on previous ESSA updates, please refer to our archives.)
Recently, the Utah State Board of Education voted to grant Sydnee Dickson, the Utah State Superintendent of Public Instruction, permission to request a temporary exemption from ESSA’s requirement that 95 percent of students in Utah must take statewide assessments. Marjorie Cortez, in Deseret News, reports that Utah education officials aim to continue their efforts to increase test participation rates, which currently stand at 94 percent.
Previously, the U.S. Department of Education rejected Utah’s initial request for a waiver from the testing requirement. In a letter to Dickson dated May 31, federal officials stated that the Utah State Board of Education failed to demonstrate how the waiver would enhance student academic achievement. With a deadline of July 1 approaching, Utah is one of only four states yet to receive approval for their ESSA accountability plans. The other states are California, Florida, and Oklahoma.
Of utmost importance is that Utah has not yet approved its Every Student Succeeds Act plan, which seeks over $100 million in federal funding. The Utah State Board of Education is requesting an exemption from a federal requirement that mandates 95 percent of students to take statewide tests. #uted #ESSA
In New York, districts with high rates of students opting out of state assessments may soon be required to allocate part of their federal aid towards encouraging more students to take these mandated exams. John Hildebrand, in Newsday, reports that the state’s Board of Regents tentatively approved regulations to this effect on June 11. The rules also aim to establish an academic rating system that considers test participation rates in each district. The public will have an opportunity to provide feedback on these new rules during the summer, with a final vote expected by the board in September.
NY Regents take first steps towards tougher opt-out rules: #ESSA
Please refer to the latest ESSA news below.
1. Tennessee’s innovative approach to school ratings
Tennessee’s plans to introduce a grading system for its schools this year have encountered obstacles due to recent online testing issues. Marta W. Aldrich, writing for Chalkbeat, reports that the state will now assign a rating of 0-4 on six different performance indicators to each school, rather than providing an overall grade as initially intended. Education Commissioner Candice McQueen assures that this change adheres to both ESSA guidelines and a new state law that prevents the use of TNReady scores for assigning letter grades to schools.
With A-F grades off the table, Tennessee and their education department devise new methods to rate schools under federal #ESSA law.
2. Insights into ESSA’s "Big Flexible-Spending Pot"
Alyson Klein, in Education Week, discusses ESSA’s Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants program, also known as Title IV. This program offers significant flexibility and has seen a dramatic increase in funding, from $400 million in the 2017-18 school year to $1.1 billion for the upcoming year. Title IV grants cover a wide range of needs, such as school safety training, drama clubs, science programs, and suicide prevention. Klein explores how districts can utilize this increased funding and outlines the functioning of the program.
These are the most recent updates on ESSA.
— Education Week (@educationweek) June 11, 2018
3 Investing in innovation … and utilizing ESSA for improved outcomes
Sarah Sparks of Education Week provides an analysis on a recent evaluation conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences. The evaluation focused on the effectiveness of programs proposed under the Investing in Innovation, or i3, program, which is the only competitive grant from the Obama era to be incorporated into the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The evaluation revealed that only a small number of these programs resulted in significant interventions. However, it is worth noting that these few programs can serve as valuable references for school districts to effectively use evidence in order to enhance student achievement. Out of the 67 grants evaluated, only nine had both strict implementation and substantial positive impacts. Patrick Lester from the Social Innovation Research Center expressed his confidence in the evaluation, stating, "I believe this evaluation holds significant credibility. It has certainly identified valuable programs that exemplify progress."
The final federal evaluation of the Investing in Innovation grant program, which distributed $1.4 billion, reveals that only a limited number of programs successfully combined strict implementation, thorough evaluation, and significant benefits for students. [link to report] pic.twitter.com/q76sY2UdEP
— Education Week (@educationweek) June 13, 2018
RelatedThis Week’s ESSA News: Approval Granted to Nation’s First Turnaround Plan, Federal Approval Received for North Carolina and Nebraska’s Plans, Insights into Opt-Out Policies, and More
Would you like to stay informed? Click here to subscribe to the ESSA Advance newsletter and receive comprehensive updates in your email inbox every Wednesday.
RelatedSign up for newsletter
Receive stories like these directly to your email inbox. Sign up for Newsletter.
