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he U.S. high school graduation rate has risen to an all-time high, but schools are still struggling to help their most vulnerable students earn diplomas,鈥澛爎eports Corey Mitchell .

The 鈥淏uilding a Grad Nation鈥� report, which was released recently by Civic, Johns Hopkins University, America’s Promise Alliance, and the Alliance for Excellent Education, 鈥渇ound that students with disabilities, English-language learners, and homeless children 鈥� all at less than 70 percent 鈥� are the student subgroups with the lowest graduation rates in the country.鈥�

Mitchell notes that the No Child Left Behind Act 鈥渞equired states to disaggregate student-achievement data and graduation rates for subgroups, which led schools to focus on improving education for students with disabilities and English-language learners.鈥� But these mandates didn鈥檛 apply to homeless students. So, prior to the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, 鈥渟tates were not required to report graduation rates or break out test performance for homeless students,鈥� which 鈥渕eans there was no tool to gauge the graduation rates of these students or hold schools and states accountable.鈥� However, with this change in federal education law, homeless students are recognized as a subgroup.

ESSA requires 鈥渁 national and state-level picture of the academic progress, and struggles, of homeless students,鈥� and unfortunately this information 鈥渋s just coming into focus,鈥� and the 鈥渞esults are disconcerting.鈥�

See below for more of the latest ESSA developments:

How Pennsylvania businesses are getting creative about STEM programs, in bringing teachers in to observe

聽Eric Morris at the聽Uniontown Herald-Standard, local businesses in one area of Pennsylvania are bringing in teachers from local schools to observe daily operations 鈥渨ith the hope it helps grow STEM curricula and the Teacher in the Workplace (TIW) program,鈥� a 鈥渟tate-funded initiative that places educators at local companies to learn about their workforce needs so they can better prepare students鈥� for what they will face when they graduate.

鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to expose teachers to local businesses and what kind of things are needed out there in the communities so they can bring it back to the students so they can use it to be successful,鈥� said local curriculum specialist Craig Hummell. Hummell also said that 鈥渨ith new school accountability measures for career readiness in Pennsylvania under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, the state has pushed for increased participation from teachers and administrators in the TIW program.鈥�

Five areas of focus for states on school-level spending data

Thanks to ESSA, this year for the first time the federal government is requiring states to report school-level spending data. , Brennan McMahon Parton, director of policy and advocacy for the Data Quality Campaign,聽 shares five areas she thinks states should focus on when preparing to deliver school-level spending data in their upcoming report cards.

鈥淪tate leaders need to create a vision for why this information matters,鈥� she argues. And the information 鈥渨on鈥檛 be useful unless people can find it.鈥� States must also 鈥渇igure out who their target audience is, without shutting out other stakeholders,鈥� and audiences 鈥渘eed help making sense of the data.鈥� Finally, state 鈥渓eaders, advocates and communities should take action informed by the data.鈥�

Was DeVos smart in showing leniency toward ESSA plans?

Andrew Ujifusa for聽Education Week that while states 鈥渇requently and successfully flexed their muscles鈥� when negotiating the details of their Every Student Succeeds Act plans with the U.S. Department of Education, the question of 鈥渨hether Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was smart to let them take that approach or often just let states off the hook is up for debate.鈥�

This is one of the two main conclusions drawn by Columbia University鈥檚 Teachers College鈥檚 Megan Duff and Priscilla Wohlstetter, who according to Ujifusa say in a 聽that 鈥渋nstead of a devolution of power, their study 鈥榮uggests [the U.S. Department of Education] may be growing savvier in its implementation of policy鈥� by relying on negotiations instead of sanctions.鈥�

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