VIDEO: Utah Reports on the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act
Utah Reports on the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
OKLAHOMA: VIDEO: Senator Lankford Discusses the Every Student Succeeds Act
Originally Published on Dec 8, 2015
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) discusses the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bill that repeals provisions of No Child Left Behind and expands the state’s role in education (December 8, 2015).
Betsy DeVos Approves ESSA Plans for Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Wednesday gave Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexico the green light on their plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. The three states join just one other, Delaware, whose plan was approved earlier this month.
All four states will begin implementing the law when the 2017-18 school year kicks off.
The states made some changes to win the department’s approval. For instance, Nevada changed the way science tests figure into its accountability system. And the department asked New Jersey for more specifics on how it will identify and turnaround low-performing schools. It also asked New Mexico for further detail on teacher quality…
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Trump Ed. Dept. to Michigan: Your ESSA Plan is Missing Major Details
A key section of Michigan’s plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act is so sparse that the U.S. Department of Education isn’t sure it’s ready for formal review, according to a letter the agency published Tuesday.
The department told the state chief, Brian Whiston, the information it provided “was insufficient” to “adequately review” the section of the plan dealing with the state’s accountability system, arguably the heart of ESSA. That could be partly because the state’s application, filed this spring, Michigan offers three possible approaches on accountability. (Michigan has since settled on one of them, a “dashboard”, Whiston said.)
Otherwise the letter, which followed a phone call between state officials and the education department on the plan, is fairly light when it comes to the list of things the state needs to fix. (More on that below).
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ESSA Point Man Jason Botel to Leave Education Dept. Post, Sources Say
Acting Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Jason Botel may not hold that title much longer, sources say. Botel, who was named to his post in April, may take on another role within the administration or leave altogether.
Botel, a former charter school principal and state advocate, has been the administration’s point person on implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, in the office that oversees key federal K-12 programs.
In that role he’s gotten criticism, including from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee and an ESSA architect. Alexander and others have said Botel has gone beyond the boundaries of the law, particularly in his feedback to Delaware which questioned the ambitiousness of the state’s goals. Alexander told Education Week that it appeared Botel hadn’t read the law carefully…
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Democrats Blast Betsy DeVos for Her Department’s ‘Hostility’ to Civil Rights
Fifty Democrats in Congress have urged Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to nominate a “qualified individual” to run the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights, and are continuing to criticize her approach to issues ranging from sexual assault to transgender student rights protections.
In a letter Tuesday, the Democratic lawmakers specifically singled out Candice Jackson, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights, for displaying a “hostility towards the very mission and functions of the office she is charged to lead.” More broadly, the lawmakers criticized the department’s approach to investigations involving students of color, English-language learners, and LGBTQ students, among others.
DeVos’s approach to civil rights has become one of the most controversial parts of her work during her first six months on the job. The secretary has said that the education department’s office for civil rights under Obama was too aggressive and too eager to pursue broad cases against institutions, leaving individual students’ civil rights complaints to languish…
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What Happened to ESSA’s Innovative Testing Pilot?
Remember the Every Student Succeeds Act’s brand new program aimed at helping states try out new forms of testing?
If not, you’re in good company. We hardly hear anything about ESSA’s “innovative assessment pilot” anymore, including from the U.S. Department of Education. That could change, however. The agency is considering next steps to open the pilot in the 2018-19 school year, a spokesman said.
When ESSA passed back in December 2015, the pilotâwhich would initially allow up to seven states to try out new forms of testing in a handful of districts for federal accountability purposesâwas one of the most eye-catching pieces of the new law. State officials crammed conference rooms and jumped on webinars to figure out how to apply. Two big states, New York and California, expressed at least some interest. And Colorado even passed a law requiring the state education agency to seek the flexibility…
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VIDEO: The Every Student Succeeds Act Implications for Kentucky and Your Community 5-12-16
PENNSYLVANIA: Pre-K access, teacher race, and more: Five notable facts about PA public schools
Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Education released a draft of its plan to comply with the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Under the new law, states were given more leeway in how to set education policy and spend federal public school dollars. The most notable news within the report was the announcement that PDE plans to unveil a new school quality metric in 2018 that it believes will foster a more holistic student experience, one less narrowly focused on state standardized tests.
But within the 133 page report there were a few other noteworthy facts about Pennsylvania public schools that caught our attention.
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Dept. of Ed Responds to ND’s Proposed ESSA Plan
The Dept. of Education responded to North Dakota’s proposed ESSA plan. State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler noted that “Education Department officials have requested additional information on several parts of the state’s plan, and the department’s evaluation of the plan and notes from the expert peer reviewers who examined it will be made public this week.” The state is required to submit a response by August 21. See the Department’s feedback below: