EDUCATION WEEK — Arizona could lose $340 million in federal funding because the state hasn’t followed the Every Students Succeeds Act’s rules for testing its students, Frank Brogan, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, told the state in a recent letter. This spring, Arizona allowed its districts a choice of offering the ACT, the SAT, or the state’s traditional test, the AzMerit test, at the high school level.  ESSA allows states to offer districts the option of using a nationally-recognized college entrance exam in place of the state test, but first they must meet certain technical requirements.

ARIZONA INFORMANT — The city of Phoenix Youth and Education Office is currently seeking passionate and committed individuals interested in advising the Mayor, City Council and city management on how to enhance educational strategies and positive youth development approaches within city programs and the community.

This blossoming spring of teacher uprisings—marching on state capitols, winning hefty pay raises—cheers any citizen who knows that robust societies depend on vibrant schools.

As state election officials counted votes in West Virginia’s primary races last week and the results were broadcast on local TV stations, West Virginia’s teachers felt something unfamiliar but wonderful.

To be sure, ESSA isn’t a school choice law. School choice fans in Congress weren’t able to persuade their colleagues to include Title I portability in the law, which would have allowed federal funding to follow students to the public school of their choice.

Duncan, Okla.— Few educators here say they want a statewide teacher strike to happen. And yet there’s overwhelming agreement from educators that it’s the only way forward.

PRECINCT REPORTER GROUP — Arizona Middle School Principal, Dr. Jason Jones, was summoned to the school’s brand new library building on the morning of Monday, March 5, because there was some kind of a “problem.” The truth was, the still empty building was where his staff had huddled with Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Judy D. White to surprise Jones with the 2018 Riverside County Principal of the Year award.

Now, more than two years after the law passed, it appears that only two states—North Dakota and Oklahoma—have immediate plans to offer their districts a choice of tests. Policymakers in at least two other states—Georgia and Florida—are thinking through the issue. Arizona and Oregon could also be in the mix.

PHOENIX – The American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) closed the curtain on a landmark National Conference & Exhibition Nov. 9-11 in Phoenix, Arizona, after introducing new standards school librarians will use for years to come.

In 2011, Arizona became the first state to adopt the most flexible school reform yet, an education savings account (ESA) plan. It provides parents who believe their child is poorly served in the local public school with an annual budget they can spend on a wide variety of accredited alternatives—not just private or parochial schools, but tutoring, online academies, special-needs services, and even computer equipment for home schooling.

Every state has turned in a plan to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act. So how do those plans stack up against each other and against No Child Left Behind, the previous version of the law? The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a think tank headed up by Michael Petrili, a former Bush administration aide, is out with a look Tuesday. 

Not a single state’s plan to comply with the federal education law—and its broader vision for judging school performance—calls for inclusion of such measures in its school accountability system…

Anyone who has worked in high poverty schools knows that poor kids are more likely than their wealthy peers to switch schools several times during their academic careers. That’s why civil rights advocates are worried about the way Arizona’s plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act handles transient students.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have now submitted their plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team are ready to examine the dozens of plans submitted by the second deadline last month.

For the past five months, we have followed the development of Minnesota’s state accountability plan as mandated by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). While the US Department of Education (USDE) has defined what must be included in four of the plans’ required indicators, states have the freedom to choose which measures they will include in their fifth indicator, of school quality/student success (SQ/SS).

The Fordham Institute is hosting “The ESSA Achievement Challenge” to “identify states with strong plans and distinct approaches and hear state superintendents and education advocates make the case that their work will lead to greater student success.” Attendees will vote on who they think will show the most achievement gains in coming years. 

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team have been approving state plans for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act at a fast and furious pace: They’ve announced approvals for 13 states and the District of Columbia over the past few weeks.

School choice programs the Trump administration wants in next year’s budget haven’t gotten traction, at least with House lawmakers. (We still don’t know yet how the Senate feels.) But those aren’t the only choice plans Congress has the chance to consider. So how are these doing?

Former Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., an Every Student Succeeds Act architect, was one of the most prominent voices clamoring for more local control over K-12 when the law was wending its way through Congress.

Arizona, North Dakota, and Vermont will have to make changes to their plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act when it comes to accountability, low-performing schools, and more, according to feedback letters released Thursday. 

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is the primary legislation related to federal K-12 education programs.

It’s fair to say the ultimate goal of the education reform movement, and the education community in general, is to ensure that all students – no matter where they live or what their background is – have access to a high-quality education.

Will parents be able to understand their child’s school’s performance under the Every Student Succeeds Act? And will schools with students from difficult socioeconomic backgrounds get a fair shake?

Arizona State ESSA Plan

Arizona State ESSA Plan Submission

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos took over the Education department, first and foremost, to move the ball forward on school choice, her long-time passion.

Most states are using the Every Student Succeeds Act as an opportunity to measure student growth, not just straight-up performance on tests. And states are broadening their accountability systems to include factors beyond reading and math to comply with a requirement in the law, …

Ultimately, twelve states—California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin—received a notice from the U.S. Department of Education that they needed to create a plan to reduce opt-outs due to low participation rates.

This report highlights significant investments made by both Republican and Democratic policymakers in state-funded pre-k programs for the fourth year in a row. In the 2015-16 budget year, 32 states and the District of Columbia raised funding levels of pre-k programs.

The fate of the Trump-DeVos privatization agenda may hinge on the public’s ability to root out the euphemisms and codewords used to disguise the failure of school vouchers.

Phoenix, AZ – May 23, 2017 – As teachers are saying goodbye to their students after another year’s hard work Governor Doug Ducey announced his veto of Senate Bill (SB) 1209, delivering a final insult to teachers across Arizona.

President Trump released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget on May 23 and immediately received bipartisan criticism from members of Congress concerned with deep cuts to education, health-care programs for low-income adults and children, and a variety of other federal programs. “I can understand why President Trump wanted to be overseas when he released a […]

Seventeen state plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act have passed the U.S. Department of Education’s initial completeness check and are ready for peer review, the next step in the approval process, the department announced Friday.

A number of states have released drafts of their ESSA plans. Here’s a compiled list of the most recent versions states have released so far. Arizona: First Draft (9/7/16)  Second Draft (11/9/16) Final Plan (1/15/17) Colorado: First Draft (2/10/17) Connecticut: Released plan (4/3/17) Delaware: First Draft (11/1/16) District…

Earlier this week, the Brookings Institution released the fifth annual Education Choice and Competition Index, which ranks school choice in the largest school districts in the U.S. During her address, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos claimed that “parents are the primary point of accountability.”

For 14 long years, students and educators have lived under the deeply flawed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) returns decision making for our nation’s education back where it belongs – in the hands of local educators, parents, and communities – while keeping the focus on students most in need. 

Arizona has cut over $1 billion from education funding every year since 2008. Arizona is ranked last or near the bottom in per-student funding and teacher salaries.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) authored an opinion piece on his efforts to roll back regulations under ESSA. Sen. Alexander argued that the removal of regulations is “not a trivial matter” but an effort to “restore to states, classroom teachers and parents decisions about what to do about their children in public schools.” Sen. Alexander’s resolution is co-sponsored by 10 Senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

New federal mandates in The Every Student Succeeds Act have been implemented in Americas’ schools, but some Arizona teachers are concerned these new requirements may not lead to equitable changes in how school districts’ allocate resources to help students succeed.

Betsy DeVos’ nomination for education secretary is headed to the full Senate for a vote. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the chamber by 52 to 48, so on a party line vote DeVos should be safe. But where could anti-DeVos forces pick up a crucial third vote against the nominee and overcome the tiebreaker vote held by Vice President Mike Pence? They could look to senators who’ve expressed skepticism about a crucial education policy priority for DeVos: school choice.