蜜桃影视

Correction appended May 1

This update on the Every Student Succeeds Act and the education plans now being refined by state legislatures is produced in partnership with ESSA Essentials, a new 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.)

Tampa Bay Times reporter Jeffrey Solochek that the Florida Department of Education has submitted its revised ESSA plan, 鈥渕onths after the U.S. Education department said multiple revisions were needed.鈥�

As we reported in our previous edition, California also recently to the Education Department. In Education Week, Alyson Klein both of these revised plans to see what exactly was changed by the states in hopes of winning federal approval.

Florida鈥檚 revised plan includes a new 鈥渇ederal index鈥� that will 鈥渢ake English-language proficiency into account鈥� and be used in combination with the state鈥檚 A鈥揊 grading system to 鈥渇lag鈥� struggling schools. The state will also 鈥渃onsider individual聽subgroup performance鈥� in providing 鈥渢argeted support鈥� to such schools. The also defines the languages that are 鈥減resent to a significant extent鈥� under ESSA and seeks a waiver of some middle-school testing requirements in science and math.

In California, education officials submitted a revised ESSA plan that 鈥渕eets the federal demand to flag schools in the bottom 5 percent of performers in the state,鈥� a requirement that 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 jibe well鈥� with California鈥檚 current rating system, which uses a color-coded dashboard that 鈥済auges schools on a number of factors, but doesn鈥檛 come up with an overall score.鈥� In the end, to identify schools whose indicators are all red (the lowest-performing tier), red in all but one category, all red and orange (the second-lowest), or those with five or more available measurements of which half are red.

See below for more ESSA news.

1 Choosing the right indicators and improving chronic absenteeism

The Brookings Institution hosted last week on the importance of ensuring that states have chosen strong enough indicators to measure student achievement in their ESSA plans. 鈥淪trong indicators help to highlight vulnerable students in the system,鈥� Ajit Gopalakrishnan, from the Connecticut Department of Education, at the event. Much of the conversation centered on chronic absenteeism 鈥斅燼n indicator many states have chosen to adopt. 鈥淧oorer students are notably likely to have higher rates of chronic absenteeism,鈥� explained Jay Shambaugh from The Hamilton Project, which released on evidenced-based approaches to reducing absenteeism. 鈥淏etter communications to parents and mentorship programs to connect teachers to families can help move the dial on chronic absenteeism,鈥� Shambaugh said. The Hamilton Project found that the same schools often have chronic absenteeism problems year after year, and the policies at the school level matter a great deal, explained Shambaugh. Food for thought as states that chose chronic absenteeism as one of their indicators move forward with implementation of their ESSA plans.

And when it comes to fostering successful implementation of the indicators in each state, The Hunt Institute鈥檚 Dr. Javaid Siddiqi emphasized the importance of communication: 鈥淚t will be critical for state leaders to get the messaging right around this new balance of academic measures and other indicators of school quality, including chronic absenteeism and college readiness 鈥� State policymakers need to be thinking about: What are we measuring? How do we convey those measures to parents?鈥�

2聽Finding strong evidence for school improvement strategies might not be so easy under ESSA

Education Week鈥檚 Alyson Klein how ESSA is supposed to be a game-changer in school improvement 鈥� giving states and districts the ability to create their own intervention mechanisms for low-performing schools if their claims can be backed up with solid data. However, this aspect of the law worries some education stakeholders because 鈥渢here just aren鈥檛 enough strategies with a big research base behind them for schools to choose from.鈥� Stakeholders are also concerned that district-level officials may be limited in their capacity or expertise in determining what kinds of interventions are truly effective. In the end, they think districts may just end up doing more of the same 鈥� with the same results.

3聽Seizing ESSA鈥檚 equity moment

The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program, Chiefs for Change, EducationCounsel, and Education First have聽聽a new resource called 鈥淪eizing the Moment: A District Guide to Advance Equity Through ESSA.鈥� Instead of treating ESSA as 鈥渁 separate initiative to implement,鈥� the authors believe district leaders 鈥渃an use the law to strengthen work they are already leading and to [break down silos] that have traditionally existed between federal programs and local initiatives.鈥� The four groups have created a 鈥渟uite of tools 鈥� including a series of infographics to help inform and guide local conversations鈥� and have identified 鈥渆ight equity priorities many leaders are already pursuing,鈥� as well as 鈥減otential barriers to equity, key decision points, and opportunities to braid and blend federal funds to strengthen local equity priorities.鈥�

4 Does Betsy DeVos have a double standard when it comes to local leaders?

Anne Hyslop the disconnect between U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos鈥檚 of state ESSA plans when speaking to the 2018 gathering of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and her other comments regarding local control. With a 鈥渃acophony of opinions on the topic, it鈥檚 easy to forget how we got here: with the聽聽of regulations to implement the law over a year ago, and a rushed process to replace them with for state plans.鈥� On this point, Hyslop says, 鈥淒eVos is more 聽for the contents of state ESSA plans than she cares to admit.鈥� Since the secretary was confirmed by Congress, she has repeatedly espoused local control, saying her focus would be on simple compliance. In this context, DeVos鈥檚 鈥渢ough love鈥� at the 2018 CCSSO conference was an abrupt change that included 鈥渁 laundry list of specific ways in which state plans fell short.鈥�

5 Will Colorado be the first state to fulfill foster youth ride provision?

The Chronicle of Social Change鈥檚 Christie Renick聽 that聽the Colorado legislature is considering a $2.9 million bill 鈥渁imed at improving the educational success of students who are foster youths鈥� by paying for them to be transported to their 鈥渟chool of origin.鈥� If signed into law, Colorado will be the first state to officially implement a program that conforms to ESSA鈥檚 requirement that districts ensure that foster kids have a ride to school. A number of states are struggling to meet this requirement, which was supposed to be in place by December 2016. is a multifaceted bill that seeks to ensure Colorado is fully compliant with all of ESSA鈥檚 foster youth provisions.

Correction: A requirement under the Every Student Succeeds Act that school districts provide foster children with rides to their “schools of origin” went into effect in December 2016. An earlier version of the story had the year incorrect.聽

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