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.)

As part of聽Education Week鈥檚 鈥淎nswering Your ESSA Questions鈥� series, Alyson Klein聽聽a question posed by Sheryl Santos-Hatchett of the University of North Texas: 鈥淲hat if a state refuses to follow through on聽or retracts a state plan and doesn’t care about funding? Does ESSA have any teeth to close down a school district? By what constitutional provision does ESSA have any right to dictate educational law?鈥�

The short answer to these questions is 鈥渘o.鈥� According to Klein, 鈥淓SSA doesn’t really have the teeth to force a state to follow through on its plan if the state doesn’t care about losing key federal funding. And two, a school district couldn’t close down because of ESSA.鈥� She adds that while technically, 鈥渟tates don’t have to follow ESSA’s requirements,鈥� if 鈥渢hey decide to completely stop following the law 鈥� for example, by ditching annual testing 鈥� they could forfeit Title I funding, which helps districts cover the cost of educating students in poverty.鈥�

Although federal dollars do not make up a majority of overall funding, the reality is that many districts rely on this money. And refusing federal funds would constitute something of a public relations nightmare for most states, which is why making the 鈥淪orry, parents, we’re saying no to extra money from the feds for poor kids鈥� argument has 鈥渙nly been made rarely, and in isolated incidents.鈥�

Check out below for more ESSA news.

ESSA and integrated student supports

Michael Q. McShane聽聽for聽Education Next聽on the significance of integrated student supports, which try to help students overcome obstacles outside of school 鈥� hunger, homelessness, mental health concerns, etc. 鈥� that make it harder for them to learn when they are in class. While educating the whole child is not a new concept, its 鈥減rofile is on the rise since the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which for the first time specifically encouraged districts to provide integrated student supports and allowed more federal dollars to pay for them,鈥� writes McShane. 鈥淏ut a close look at the research on their effectiveness reveals an open question: while integrated supports may help meet students鈥� physical and emotional needs, their ability to improve student learning remains unproven.鈥�

Congress talks supporting the 鈥榳hole child鈥�

How federal policy can empower states and communities to provide whole-child education for all students will be the topic of a Wednesday panel at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C. Hosting the event will be the Learning Policy Institute, the Alliance for Excellent Education, American Institutes for Research, America鈥檚 Promise Alliance, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, the Opportunity Institute, and Turnaround for Children. Democratic congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut will also be taking part in the 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. discussion. 聽to register and for more information.

Democrats forward bill to increase Education Department budget

A bill in Congress to increase the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 budget by more than $4 billion will soon be considered by the full House of Representatives after it passed out of the House Appropriation Committee, according to Andrew Ujifusa鈥檚 recent聽聽in聽Education Week. Among other measures, the bill directs the Education Department 鈥渢o issue guidance clarifying that Title IV funding can’t be used to buy guns and arm teachers,鈥� an issue that has become a 鈥渉uge point of contention between the department and Democrats.鈥� During a March hearing, 鈥淒emocrats revealed internal department communications that they said proved Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos had refused to clarify whether Title IV grants under the Every Student Succeeds Act could be used to arm teachers.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.