WHAT:
Meeting between the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Reverend Dr. RB Holmes and K-12 and HBCU Leaders
WHEN:
Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 11:45 – 3:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Bethel Family Life Center
406 N Bronough Street Tallahassee, FL 32301
Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos met with a broad spectrum of education leaders in Florida. The meeting was divided into two 45-minute sessions. The first session was titled “Saving, Sustaining and Strengthening Public Education and Schools of Choice” and the second was titled “Saving, Sustaining and Strengthening HBCUs and Higher Education.”
In each session, the group discussed:
Policies and Procedures
Challenges and Concerns
Secretary DeVos offered the following comments on the meeting:
“As we confront the many challenges facing our education system today, it is paramount that we hear from those on the front lines: local leaders who confront these issues head on each and every day. Today’s discussions were great examples of how local leaders – whether they are administrators, educators, elected officials or religious leaders – can come together to share best practices and work together to find innovative solutions that help our students and communities succeed.
“I want to thank Rev. Dr. RB Holmes for convening this summit, and also, more importantly, for his long track record of working on behalf of often-disadvantaged students who without his tireless efforts would not have the opportunities they enjoy today.”
ATTENDEES INCLUDED:
Reverend Dr. RB Holmes, Pastor, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Education Roundtable Participants Invited to Attend:
Dr. Timothy Moore, Director of Research, Florida A&M University
Rodner Wright, Provost, Florida A&M University
Dr. Castelle Bryant, Past President, Florida A&M University
Dr. Henry Lewis Lewis, Past President, Florida A&M University
Ms. JoLinda L. Herring, Esq. – Florida Memorial University, Board of Trustees
Dr. Freddie Grooms-McLendon – Edward Waters University, Chairman, Board of Trustees
The Honorable Senator Bill Montford – Florida Senator
The Honorable Congressman Al Lawson – United States Representative
Chancellor Hershel Lyons – FL State Dept. of Education K-12 Chancellor
Commissioner Pam Stewart – Commissioner of Education
Chancellor Rod Duckworth – Career and Adult Education
Superintendent Alex “Lex” Carswell, Jr. – Columbia County
Superintendent Dr. Patricia Willis – Duval County
Superintendent Traci Moses – Franklin County
Superintendent Marianne Arbulu – Jefferson County
Ms. Beverly Owens – Leon County Schools Office of Federal Programs & Charter School
Mrs. Diane Townsend – Principal, Tallavana Christian School
Dr. Roslyn Wilson – Principal, Bethel Christian Academy
Dr. Julius McAllister – Trustee, Edward Waters University; Pastor, Bethel AME Church
Dr. Joseph Wright – Florida Baptist General State Conventionm Pastor, Jerusalem Baptist Church
Bishop A.J. Richardson – Bethune-Cookman University, Board of Trustees,
14th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Pastor Lee Johnson – Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church
Dr. Richard Mashburn – Associate Minister, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Isaac Manning – Moderator, 1st Bethlehem Baptist Association
Dr. Ronald Holmes – Holmes Education Post
Dr. Marvin Henderson – Retired Deputy Superintendent, Leon County Schools
Ms. Georgia “Joy” Bowen – President, Leon County School Board
Mrs. Caroly D. Cummings, Esq.
Mr. James Coleman – Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Elaine Bryant – Chair, Board of Trustees, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Mr. James Mathews – Chairman of Finance, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Barbara Barnes – Retired Provost, Florida A&M University
Mr. Malcom Barnes – Retired Professor, Florida A&M University
Dr. Malinda J. James – Educational Consultant
Reverend Dr. RB Holmes, Jr. – Pastor, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Dr. Gloria Holmes – Administrator, Bethel Christian Academy
Dr. Shawnta Friday-Stroud – Dean of the School of Business and Industry, Florida A&M University
Superintendent Rocky Hanna – Leon County Schools
Dr. Patricia Green-Powell – Interim Dean and Professor, College of Education, Florida A&M University
Dr. Charles Weatherford – Title III Programs, Interim Executive Director
Mr. Christopher Petley – Project Manager, Office of District Communications
Dr. Linda T. Fortenberry – Director of Christian Education, Bethel Missionary Baptist Church
Ms. Taralisha Sanders, Office Manager, The Capital Outlook
While students are gearing up for the new school year, education leaders across the country have been hunkering down all summer to finish up their state education plans as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Sixteen states and the District of Columbia submitted their state plans to the U.S. Department of Education back in April, while the remaining 34 states will submit next month.
Among those states in the throes of ESSA planning, New York stands out for the size and diversity of its student population: The state has more than 2.6 million public school students, half of whom are students of color. New York also has been a national leader in engaging educators, parents and communities in improving education. In recent years, the state has done laudable work to refine its state standards and annual assessments improving education for all students—and notably, New York has excelled in involving stakeholders in that process. Recently, as state leaders have been developing their ESSA plan, they have put real effort into gathering input from communities—from Buffalo to Brooklyn—on what they want for their public schools.
With this strong educational groundwork laid, New York released its draft ESSA plan on July 31, about six weeks before the final plan is due to the U.S. Department of Education. This six-week window offers an opportunity for both the public and experts to offer feedback and guidance on ways New York—and states everywhere—can design the best plan to support student success.
With this in mind, Bellwether Education Partners and the Collaborative for Student Success brought together a panel of independent peer reviewers—myself included—to conduct an interim evaluation of New York’s draft ESSA plan. This panel is an extension of Check State Plans, a larger effort to provide an independent review of all states’ ESSA plans. In the spirit of supporting states as they strengthen their education systems, Bellwether and the Collaborative will conduct a full review of the 34 state plans that are submitted in September, including a final review of New York’s plan.
Our goal for the interim review is to identify both strengths and areas for improvement in New York’s plan and offer constructive recommendations for ways the state could refine its planned approach for supporting public schools and students before submitting to the U.S. Department of Education. Our panel has found both bright spots and areas of recommendation for New York’s draft ESSA plan.
On the positive side, the plan reflects New York’s prioritization of student progress and supports for schools.
Incentivizing Academic Progress. We are encouraged that New York’s performance index—which gives schools credit for student performance at four different levels—places a strong incentive on students meeting grade-level standards. However, the state’s approach to monitoring student growth compares students to their peers rather than an overall standard of mastery and thus doesn’t do enough to ensure that students are on track for graduation.
Supporting Schools. New York’s plan outlines a system that provides differentiated supports to schools based on their needs, as well as a process to support school improvement efforts by requiring schools to complete a comprehensive, diagnostic needs assessment. While this approach is commendable, it could benefit from more detail on how parents, educators and other stakeholders will be engaged in the school improvement process.
Our review panel has also identified four opportunities for New York to provide greater clarity and detail about how the state will reach its goals of supporting all schools and students.
Ensuring that All Students Receive a High-quality Education. The plan could be stronger in detailing how historically underserved students (i.e., students of color, low-income students, English learners, students with disabilities, and Native students), referred to in ESSA as “subgroups,” will be supported — both in terms of how they fit into the state accountability index and how schools with consistently underperforming subgroups will be identified for support. Additionally, the state plans to use n-sizes that would omit many students. We recommend New York reconsider these choices.
Setting Ambitious Goals. Related to supporting all students, New York has set a goal of reducing achievement and graduation rate gaps by 20 percent within five years. On the face of it, this goal seems ambitious, but the plan lacks data to confirm that this is the case—or that the goal is attainable. We recommend incorporating more evidence to back up this goal and clarifying whether this and other goals are to be acted on or are part of the state’s longer-term vision.
Identifying Schools in Need of Support. We appreciate that New York’s accountability system has a simple list of indicators, but its process for using those indicators to determine which schools are low-performing is very complicated. Moreover, the plan neglects to mention what will happen to schools that don’t fall into the very low-performing category. We encourage the state to consider simplifying its accountability calculations and provide more information on how the accountability system will impact the 95 percent of schools that are not among the lowest performing.
Moving Schools to Improved Status. Because several of New York’s accountability indicators aren’t tied to objective goals, low-performing schools may not know what they would need to accomplish to show sufficient progress. Our panel recommends that the state create more rigorous criteria for how these schools can demonstrate sustained improvement over time.
We applaud New York’s leadership in engaging all of its stakeholders to improve its public education system, and we believe that this spirit of collaboration and shared commitment to progress can drive New York officials to continue to refine its draft ESSA plan before submitting the final plan in mid-September.
Other states are sure to look to New York’s draft as they design their own plans, and we hope that they will look for ways to model the way in which New York monitors the academic progress of students across the performance spectrum while continuing to emphasize the importance of meeting grade-level standards. We also hope that our independent review will inspire New York officials to take a second look at key parts of their plan—and at best practices from other states, such as those identified in the Alliance for Excellent Education equity analysis—to ensure that their plan truly will support the best outcomes for every student in their state.
Phillip Lovell is vice president of policy development and government relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education
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.
But now Kline is worried that at least two states, Arizona and New Hampshire, have passed laws that skirt key “guardrails” in the law aimed holding schools accountable and protecting students’ civil rights.
Congress, Kline writes in a commentary for Education Week, made the conscious decision to stick with statewide tests so that parents could compare results from one school district to the next. But new laws in both states seem to fly in the face of that rule, which is a key part of the balance lawmakers were going for in writing ESSA…
The plans detail how states will go about complying with the federal law in the coming years. The law goes into effect this fall.
DeVos has now approved 10 of the 17 submitted state ESSA plans. All of the states that have turned in plans have received feedback from the department…
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has approved Vermont’s and Maine’s state accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Education Department announced Thursday.
The plans detail how the states will comply with the federal law which goes into effect this fall. The Education Department cited several components of the states’ plans in announcing the approvals.
In Vermont’s case, that includes the inclusion of physical fitness in its accountability system, as well as tracking the percentage of high school students who go on to college, the workforce, military, or trade school 16 months after graduation…
Carlene Thompson, a concerned parent and grandparent from Washington, D.C., talks about the Every Student Succeeds Act after the National Black Parent Town Hall meeting hosted by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Linda Banks, a parent from Prince George’s County, Md., talks about the Every Student Succeeds Act after the National Black Parent Town Hall meeting hosted by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Richard Campbell talks about the Every Student Succeeds Act after the National Black Parent Town Hall hosted by the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
Increasing parental engagement in education has been an important task for education policy makers. While it is unfortunate that some parents do not wish to become more involved, and may not know why they should be, those who do wish to be more engaged can learn how to get more involved. Parental involvement creates positive, visible change, sets an example that influences others to participate, and nurtures student success. Parental engagement is also a major component of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the new national education law.
Local education agencies and schools should make parents and community stakeholders aware of public school board meetings to foster community engagement. Attending these meetings, allows community members to find out what their school district’s established goals are, how they intend to achieve those goals, the priorities of funding and budgeting plans, and what is included in the approved curriculum. These meetings also offer parents the opportunity to verbalize opinions, needs, questions, or concerns to the board and community. School board meetings should be safe spaces for honest dialogue, where parents feel comfortable to address their concerns and actively participate in the decision making that affects their children.
Back-to-school nights are also a great tool that can be used to increase parental engagement with educators. Schools can use back-to-school nights to communicate needs and ask parents for their assistance through volunteer opportunities that are cognizant of varying times of availability and skill set. As parents get more involved, they become more comfortable with the environment and are more likely to participate in future activities. This should be a goal for all schools.
Lastly, transparency is essential to building successful parent-teacher partnerships. Transparency is also an important aspect of ESSA. ESSA requires states and school districts to be more transparent, specifically with parents; mandating more detailed district report cards and a breakdown of data for all student groups. Parents should always know, if their student needs assistance or is excelling. Assigning homework that includes family input and inviting parents to view student presentations are other examples that may get parents engaged in their child’s education. More information, rather than less, is preferred when it comes to academic achievement.
Producing successful students requires patience, support and community partnership. Parental involvement is one of many things that help students overcome obstacles and it also gives students the extra push needed to be great. All parents are different, some are proactive; others need an invitation. It is the educators’ duty to invite them.
Learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act at nnpa.org/essa.
Aiyana Thomas is a 17-year-old Baltimore City College High School student. She is a public speaker, youth advocate, and blogger. She enjoys using her voice for positive change. One day, she would like to own a business that contributes to the change she hopes to see; a change that begins with the improvement of education and the development of her community.