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�After years of frustration in her attempts to expand education choice, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is picking up steam,鈥� in聽Education Week. 鈥淔resh evidence that DeVos is continuing her push to prioritize choice with federal funds can be found in the April 24 edition of the聽Federal Register,鈥� which included a U.S. Department of Education announcement of a new proposal to grant priority for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

The priority 鈥渨ould affect聽State Personnel Development Grants that help train those working in special education,鈥� Ujifusa writes.

This announcement 鈥渓ines up with at least two other recent moves by the Education Department to embed at least the concept of money in different parts of the federal education budget,鈥� including an early-March proposal from DeVos to develop 鈥渧ouchers for teachers to use for professional development using Education Innovation and Research grant money in the Every Student Succeeds Act.鈥�

DeVos also recently announced $180 million in federal coronavirus grants that in part 鈥渨ould provide money to families to spend on a variety of public and private education services 鈥� a concept that resembles a voucher program.鈥� Ujifusa also reports that Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, wrote to DeVos last month saying that her teacher PD plan that relied on Every Student Succeeds Act money 鈥渧iolated both the 鈥榮pirit and intent鈥� of the law.鈥�

Here are the week鈥檚 other top headlines for how states are implementing (and innovating under) ESSA:

During pandemic, Indiana focusing more on connection than attendance

Attendance is 鈥渘ow one of the many facets of K-12 education that has been redefined because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced school buildings to close and most students to transition to online learning,鈥� .

The reality, says Kirkman, is that no school districts in the state 鈥渁re required to bother with strict attendance policies at all.鈥� Instead, 鈥渟chool leaders are emphasizing leniency and teacher-student interactions in their continuous learning plans as a way to track district achievement and attendance.鈥�

ESSA 鈥渞equires states to report chronic absence data as a measure of school quality,鈥� but the U.S. Department of Education has indicated it would 鈥渃onsider a one-year waiver to exclude this indicator鈥� from states鈥� systems.

Oklahoma ranks third in pre-K access

According to a new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Oklahoma now in the country in regard to access to pre-K education for 4-year-olds.

Perhaps this shouldn鈥檛 be surprising: 鈥淥klahoma鈥檚 commitment to early education is evident in the state鈥檚 eight-year strategic plan, Oklahoma Edge,鈥� writes . 鈥淭he comprehensive education plan, required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), lists one of the state鈥檚 six primary goals as aligning early childhood education and learning foundations to ensure at least 75% of students are 鈥榬eady to read鈥� upon kindergarten entry.鈥�

Brookings examines NAEP civics results

In this , the Brookings Institution examines the recent release of the National Center of Education Statistics鈥� results from the 2018 NAEP civics assessment to answer whether public schools are living up to their 鈥渃ore mission鈥� to 鈥渆quip students with the tools to become engaged and informed鈥� citizens.

鈥淔ollowing on the heels of the underwhelming 2019 results in math and reading, the latest civics results from the Nation鈥檚 Report Card are also lackluster,鈥� write authors Michael Hansen, Diana Quintero and Alejandro Vazquez-Martinez. These results are noteworthy, they write, 鈥済iven that 2018 was the first civics test administered after the enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, which provided greater flexibility to states in the design of their accountability systems.鈥�

This change 鈥渆ssentially removed federal law鈥檚 laser focus on math and reading that characterized the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) era, and one might have expected subjects beyond reading and math to flourish in this new learning environment.鈥�

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