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How Can States Prepare for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)?

By ASBO USA posted 02-08-2016 14:10

  

Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has been signed into law, K–12 leaders must prepare to implement, and in some cases devise, new education regulations on everything from funding formulas and teacher accountability systems to academic standards and assessments. Fortunately, Education Next asked several K‒12 experts to weigh in on how states should transition from the old No Child Left Behind law to the new ESSA education era. Here’s what they have to say:


Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

  • Data from disaggregated tests should be analyzed and utilized to improve how schools serve disadvantaged students.

  • NCLB teaches three lessons to create better policies that serve students: 1) Give parents more options, 2) Help struggling students in good schools, and 3) Rally community resources to help parents.

    1. Take advantage of ESSA’s competitive programs (e.g., the Charter Schools Program [CSP]) to offer more school options to parents. Also, maximize Title I funds for school turnarounds (up to 7% may be used for improving schools).

    2. “Suburban schools are the most well-equipped to address their [student] subgroup deficiencies, if leaders take them seriously.” States should pressure schools to address student subgroup inequities and provide support where possible.

    3. To increase parental engagement, states “should consider contracting with third-party validators who can provide better information about their children’s schools.” Also invest in programs or organizations that “develop partnerships between schools and other [local] student service providers.”



Greg Richman, President and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers

  • Even though ESSA requires states to intervene only in the bottom 5% of performing schools, “far more schools need dramatic improvement,” regardless of how they measure up. And don’t use one-size-fits all solutions.

  • “States should use a variety of student outcome measures” to determine what will trigger school interventions over including “input measures.”

    • Examples include academic measures, graduation rates, college enrollment rates, attendance rates, mobility rates, English/Math/Science/History academic measures, proficiency rates, and student growth metrics in each and all areas.

    • Map student performance on all of these factors and control for students who are eligible for free-/reduced-price meals vs. those who aren’t, as well as for each student sub-group.

  • Evaluate the context (input measures) of each school to determine the best way to intervene. Ask whether it is one school or the entire district that is failing; different scenarios require different approaches.

  • Consider best-practice frameworks for school turnarounds, like “Tony Bryk’s five essential supports for school improvement or Greg Anrig’s five common strategies of successful School Improvement Grants.”

 

Aimee Rogstad Guidera, President and CEO of Data Quality Campaign

  • Increase data transparency to provide information to and build trust with parents, teachers, and communities.

  • Use data and information to transform education, don’t just focus on compliance. ESSA is a game changer because it places priority on “getting useful data into the hands of those closest to students, and making sure there is training so those individuals know how to use the information responsibly and effectively.”

  • Use data to “inform and support” rather than “shame and blame.” Consider which data are necessary for driving accountability, directing classroom instruction, and should be used as the basis for evaluations; different data should be used for different purposes.

  • Deliver data in a way that shows their value; ensure data are delivered in a timely manner and an easy-to-understand format.

  • Providing access to data isn’t enough; provide the training, time, and support for educators to use data to “personalize learning and increase” student achievement.

 

Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change

  • Include attendance, student and teacher satisfaction, and community engagement as metrics for state accountability systems.

  • The recipe for success is maintaining faith in college and career readiness goals for students, making progress with state assessments toward those goals, and aligning district and school assessments to state assessments. Keep the goals firm, the assessments elastic.

    • After achieving this, quantitative measures “such as matriculation and graduation rates” will become “even more meaningful and important.” States will be better positioned to “add nuance” to their accountability systems because their foundation is firm.

  • Focus time, energy, and resources on areas that will have the highest impact on student success. Create an ecosystem where everyone has the incentive to do the right thing.

  • For school interventions, states shouldn’t think punitively. Focus on opening opportunities for students instead and avoid micromanaging as much as possible. Take advantage of the CSP, new uses for Title I funds under ESSA, and innovations in personalized learning to improve schools. Also invest smartly in teacher and leader development and effectiveness.

 

Charles Barone, Director of Policy at Democrats for Education Reform and Education Reform Now

  • ESSA provides an opportunity to “whitewash school failure” and “overhaul education policy through school turnarounds and systemic reforms.”

  • As K–12 leaders revamp their accountability and assessment systems, keep these factors in mind:

    • Despite some opt-out movements, more than 70% of parents think assessments are a “valid measure” of student achievement and school quality. Research shows that test scores are accurate predictors of short- and long-term student outcomes. Focus on cutting down state and local tests, which take up significantly more time than federal tests.

    • “Accountability works. Transparency of annual student outcomes is helpful to parents, policymakers, and the public.” But we must tie this data to action in order to see favorable outcomes.

    • Interventions must be robust, and case studies shows that re-staffing is a key component to successful turnarounds.

 

Bill Jackson, Founder and CEO of GreatSchools

  • Pay attention to the quality of assessments being administered. Choose high-quality assessments that provide K‒12 stakeholders the information they need to know to determine if students are on track.

  • “The best leaders inspire and support their people to get better” rather than focusing on punitive accountability. Insist that districts take aggressive action to turn around schools, but also use more subtle and uplifting mechanisms to encourage reform.

  • States can develop new approaches to measuring school quality beyond assessment scores; use student, staff, and parent surveys, career and college readiness benchmarks, and other metrics.

  • Foster more opportunities for parents to choose schools that match their children’s needs; there is no one-size-fits-all best school.

  • Don’t expect parents to find and make use of state/school report cards; provide high-quality data that’s easy to understand. States must improve the quality of school performance data and make it available to third parties to disseminate and effectively communicate.


For more tips on ESSA implementation, 
read the rest of Education Next’s K‒12 expert interviews.

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