Dr. Elizabeth Primas, NNPA ESSA Awareness Campaign Program Manager
It is not uncommon for military programs to be adopted for use in civilian life. Schools in Virginia Beach, VA, that have some of the highest percentages of military children in the country, are doing an incredible job helping those students cope with the added stresses of having parents in the military. Other schools and communities can learn from Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
I recently spent a day with families and educators from Shelton Park Elementary School. About 70 percent of the students there were children with a parent in the military or a defense contractor. There is a large population of special forces personnel in Virginia Beach and at any moment, a parent can be called on for deployment to a warzone. Their families often do not know to where they are deployed, which compounds stress and anxiety.
A unique program in Virginia Beach public schools includes 28 Military Family Life Counselors, who work closely with schools’ staff and families to support students. One mother we spoke with, talked about the fears her five-year-old daughter had while her father was deployed. After a particularly bad night, the mother let the school staff and the assigned counselor know that her daughter was going through a very difficult time. However, mom was able to send her daughter to school knowing that the school community would play an active role in engaging with her to help her work through her fears. The Virginia Beach counselors, funded under a program by the U.S. Department of Defense, are licensed and specialize in child and youth behavioral issues.
It’s not just supporting students through the stress of having a parent deployed where Virginia Beach schools excel in supporting this population of students. A reportfrom The Lexington Institute looks at how schools and districts with high percentages of military families are supporting students, who, on average, move every 2-3 years to far and distant places. Uprooting and moving so often is disruptive to a child’s educational progress, and it can stall their academic achievement.
However, moving is not the only thing that can disrupt educational progress. Low teacher retention, frequent absenteeism, and unsafe school environments are all factors that can also inhibit academic progress.
The Every Student Succeeds Act, a federal education law, requires schools and districts to have a well-rounded curriculum. Too many schools have eliminated music, art, drama, and essential academic courses like social studies and science to give more instruction time to reading and math. Math and reading are critical, but these other subjects enrich the learning experience and help make a well-rounded, whole human being.
From the very beginning, students at Shelton Park Elementary School are exposed to art, music, leadership strategies. The well-rounded curriculum combined with support from the military counselors creates a school environment that can – and should – be modeled across the country.
As a lifetime educator, I am inspired to see how Virginia Beach Public Schools are supporting military children. They are truly a model to be emulated by anyschool, because every kid—military or not-deserves this kind of high-quality support and instruction.
Dr. Elizabeth Primas is the ESSA Program Manager for the National Newspapers Publishers Association.
On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a long-awaited overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) or most commonly referred to as the No Child Left Behind Act. ESSA passed with bipartisan support, and encourages states and schools to innovate, while at the same time maintaining an emphasis on state and local systems of improvement and strengthening a more balanced assessment and accountability system.
ESSA establishes a framework for preparing students for life beyond K-12, whether that is attending college or pursuing a career. The reauthorized Act largely continues Congress’ interest in ensuring that the nation’s investment in elementary and secondary education is in service of our most vulnerable youth. This includes:
Ensuring students graduate high school ready for college and the workplace;
Reducing gaps among student groups in achievement, opportunity and graduation;
Supporting and improving struggling schools;
Improving school conditions for student learning, including the use of technology to improve academic achievement;
Providing all students with access to a well-rounded education;
Expanding access to high-quality early learning opportunities; and
Keeping the focus on high-quality classroom instruction through professional development and meaningful feedback for educators.
The transition plan as outlined in ESSA includes the following timelines:
The new federal law does not impact the 2015-2016 school year. New Hampshire’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver remains in effect until August 1, 2016. New Hampshire must continue interventions in schools identified as priority and focus schools for the remainder of the 2015-2016 school year and during the 2016-2017 school year.
The 2016-2017 school year will be a planning period with full implementation of new state accountability plan effective with the 2017-2018 school year.
ESSA requires states to develop accountability and support plans that address areas such as: standards, assessments, educator support, school and district accountability and improvement, and special help for struggling schools. The New Hampshire Department of Education is committed to involving educators, parents and other stakeholders as we explore this new student-focused plan. Over the next year, a variety of engagement strategies will be implemented:
The NH DOE will facilitate advisory teams of educators, policymakers, partners and other stakeholders to gather input into the plan design. These teams can be found below and as meetings take place, minutes of those meetings and meeting materials will be posted.
The NH DOE will host two regional listening tours to gather input and feedback into the state’s visions for education and the state plan for accountability and support. Dates and locations will be announced below as they are scheduled.
The NH DOE will be posting three survey’s during the 2016-17 school year: (1) a vision survey (mid-Sept to mid-Nov); (2) an input survey for the state accountability and support plan (mid-Nov to late Dec) and support plan; and (3) a feedback survey for the draft state accountability and support plan (mid-March to mid-April). Please look for these links and results below as they are posted and analyzed.
This web page will be updated regularly to provide information and status updates on the state’s plan development.
The New Hampshire Department of Education would like your input!
In an effort to gather input from New Hampshire citizens about what they value in their educational system, the NH Department of Education held seven Regional Listening Tours around our state and collected information via a survey. The information collected will be considered as the state develops its accountability and support plan required in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Summaries of the feedback received at the forums will be linked with each community name below as the notes are completed. The presentation provided and flyer for the events can be found here:
Since March 2016, the NH DOE has been collaborating with various stakeholders in an effort to build an understanding of the new ESSA. We have actively engaged an Accountability Task Force, an Educator Equity and Support Advisory Team, an English Learner Advisory Team, and a Comprehensive Support and Improvement Advisory Team. Soon, we will be bringing together stakeholders to discuss opportunities in federal fiscal streams and early childhood education.
The ESSA requires a state accountability and support plan, which will outline the state’s strategies for implementing key requirements of the new law, including accountability and school improvement. The New Hampshire Department of Education will be seeking broad collaboration in formulating this state plan. The following initial advisory teams will be critical in formulating this plan. The Department will add advisory teams on topics if and as needed.
By Wade Henderson (President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights)
For the first time in our nation’s history, the majority of students in public schools are students of color. But in most places, communities of color still have little meaningful say in how their states manage and resource education. As a result, too many students in this new majority are in overcrowded classes and inadequate facilities where teachers are overworked, underpaid and stuck with a curriculum that lacks rigor and relevance.
All students deserve the opportunity to learn and work hard in a healthy environment with excellent teachers, but even 62 years after Brown v. Board of Education, our nation is reeling from the unfulfilled promise of an equal education for all. Educational equity is vital to our nation; two-thirds of all future jobs will require some level of higher education, and research suggests that within the next 10 years, our economy will face a deficit of 11 million skilled workers. Continuing policies that fail to prepare all students for college and careers is an immoral and self-defeating choice that stunts our nation’s economic potential — and mocks our democratic ideals.
But now there’s an opportunity for states, districts and schools to make a better choice. The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, the federal education law Congress passed late last year, requires that parents and communities be meaningfully engaged in determining how states equitably educate their children.
Under ESSA, every single state and school district is confronted with a question of enormous consequence: Will they work with new majority communities to develop plans and policies that ensure excellent schools for all children? Or will they continue to make their decisions in a bubble, avoid accountability and do a disservice to students in the process?
Progress is not guaranteed. For this new law to improve education for every student, states need to put communities in the driver’s seat and focus on the interests of marginalized students. We have always had strong, clear and diverse voices demanding that our education system serve the interests of their children — but decision-makers rarely listen.
Recent research shows that Black and Latino parents understand what the problems exist in their children’s schools — and they have clear ideas about what should change. They know that the schools their children attend don’t get as much funding as schools White children attend; they know their children aren’t getting as good an education as White children; and they know that race is at least one of the reasons why. But they also believe good teaching and high expectations are critical and they want both for their children.
This is all information that states should be taking into account when determining their policies and programs under the new law. And to do that, states, districts, and schools have to engage new majority parents and communities. They have to build strong accountability systems that identify and target meaningful support and improvement in any school where all students — or any group of students — are not learning. They have to provide robust data and reporting about how well schools are educating students and they have to provide them in formats and languages that parents can understand. And, as communities of color demand, they have to distribute resources — high-quality teachers, challenging coursework, up-to-date facilities and classroom materials — more equitably.
Last year during the debate over the new law, states argued that they were in the best position to make decisions that would benefit all students. Now is the time to prove it.
Every single child in this great country deserves a world-class education. But that can’t happen if states and districts ignore the priorities of the families they serve. Experience shows that this can be done. All we need is the will to sit down, open our minds and listen to what all families are saying.
Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 diverse civil rights organizations. Follow The Leadership Conference on Twitter @civilrightsorg and learn more about their work at http://www.civilrights.org.
PHOTO CAPTIONS: Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights says that Continuing policies that fail to prepare all students for college and careers is an immoral and self-defeating choice that stunts our nation’s economic potential — and mocks our democratic ideals. (Freddie Allen/AMG/NNPA)
While our schools have made significant progress over the last 15 years in improving achievement and graduation rates for historically underserved groups of students, there is still a long way to go to close longstanding gaps in opportunity and achievement. Now is not the time to slow down.
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