蜜桃影视

This update on the Every Student Succeeds Act and the education plans now being implemented by states and school districts is produced in partnership with ESSA Essentials, an ongoing series from the Collaborative for Student Success. It鈥檚 an offshoot of their聽聽newsletter, which you can聽! (See our recent ESSA updates聽from previous weeks right here.)

鈥淭o improve student learning, an effective teacher in the classroom is the most important factor,鈥� writes the Data Quality Campaign. 鈥淓very student, regardless of their zip code, deserves access to a good teacher.鈥�

But to make this happen, teacher data is critical; unfortunately, school-level teacher data isn鈥檛 easy to track down (especially on school report cards, a primary resource for this kind of information). Last month, the DQC released a 聽that 鈥渟hows how state leaders must change this by sharing and communicating meaningful data that makes sense and is actionable for families and communities.鈥�

In the introduction to the fact sheet, the authors note that ESSA 鈥渆mphasized the importance of strong teachers by requiring state education agencies to include in their state plans a description of what being an effective teacher means and the measures that the state will use to evaluate and publicly report on access to effective teachers for specific student groups (e.g., students from low-income families and students of color).鈥� The Every Student Succeeds Act 鈥渁lso requires that school report cards include information about teachers, such as teacher experience or credentials.鈥� So, to 鈥減rovide the strongest picture of teacher quality in districts and schools, states should go beyond what is required in ESSA and include all of this information on report cards.鈥�

Here are the week鈥檚 other top headlines for how states are continuing to implement the nation鈥檚 new education law:

The forgotten art of teaching the arts (in New York City)

鈥淲hy, in the New York City public school system, are the arts still being relegated to the realm of the extracurricular?鈥� Penny Smith, executive director of Education Through Music.

In a new piece , she argues in favor of supporting the arts in education as a way to help fuel the city鈥檚 creative industries; she also notes that the 鈥渨ell-rounded, content-rich syllabus set forth by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act is achievable, but currently only by students in high-income communities.鈥� For others, 鈥渓earning 鈥� and career 鈥� options are limited to as few subjects as their schools can afford.鈥�

California counties show way forward for foster youth outcomes

Many school districts in 聽are 鈥渟truggling to live up to a now three-year-old federal requirement,鈥� originally set by ESSA, to 鈥渆nsure foster youth have educational stability.鈥�

Under the federal law, educational and child welfare agencies are to work together 鈥渢o create transportation plans so that foster students could return to their so-called 鈥榮chool of origin鈥� if that is in their best interest.鈥� California schools are now three years past this deadline, and only 34 percent of child welfare agencies have such plans at the ready. Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento offer hope, however, as each county has worked to implement programs intended to increase transportation services for foster youth, including a $14 million transportation plan in Los Angeles County, volunteer assistance from foster parents in San Diego County and an innovative new program called School Connect in Sacramento.

ESSA & Betsy DeVos鈥檚 first 1,000 days

Here in ,听Carolyn Phenicie recently took a look at the first thousand days of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos鈥檚 time on the job, noting that among her detractors, her department鈥檚 鈥渨eak implementation鈥� of ESSA is among her most egregious actions.

https://twitter.com/mkeierleber/status/1195032373093707776

But to her supporters, 鈥渨eakening the federal hand in education is exactly what they wanted after the perceived overreach of the Bush-Obama years.鈥� Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a lead author of ESSA, praised DeVos in an emailed statement, saying her department has implemented ESSA 鈥渨ell, on time, and as Congress intended 鈥� by restoring most decisions back to states and local school districts.鈥�

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