Parents and teachers, prepare to start hearing a lot about the new Every Student Succeeds Act.
Prepare, as well, to speak up this fall if you want to change the way Ohio handles testing and how it judges schools.
The new law passed by Congress last fall replaces the often-villified No Child Left Behind laws – a package passed in 2001 that made education “accountability” a constant focus and that brought increased testing, more state ratings of schools and penalties against schools that did not meet improvement standards.
In its place, ESSA has supposedly less-structured requirements. Instead of having one national plan, states can adopt their own plans to hold schools accountable for their work,to identify schools where students aren’t learning and to make sure that kids from all income and ethnic backgrounds learn what they need to succeed.
As Ohio starts work on its plan, a few hot-button issues will be up for debate. Among them:
- Testing
- State report cards
- Teacher evaluations
- What measures of learning schools should be graded on
- How money is spent to help improve schools and kids that lag behind.
The Common Core educational standards are not necessarily part of the debate, though states are free to keep them, throw them out or create a mix of Common Core and local preferences.
“I think there are elements of ESSA that matter,” said new state Superintendent Paolo DeMaria. “Its really fundamentally important and critical to what we do. And I want to get out there and open the lines of communication.”
After having meetings already this year with key education groups like school board leaders, teachers unions and advocacy groups, the Ohio Department of Education will have meetings for the public to weigh in.
But while some are calling the development of state plans the most important educational development in years, there are many who will be disappointed that the state does not have full freedom to change as it pleases.
Testing is not going away. Grading of schools is not going away. And the constant scrutiny when grades are low will continue.
Click here to read more details about the ESSA from Cleveland.com.
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