By Rosie Manins

Parents of K-12 children are encouraged to learn about the new Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA), which is offering $1.6 billion in funding and more flexibility to individual states and school districts in how students learn and are evaluated.

Atlanta NAACP Education Committee member Patrice Barlow speaks as a panel member during a parents' town hall for the Every Student Succeeds Act, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

Atlanta NAACP Education Committee member Patrice Barlow speaks as a panel member during a parents’ town hall for the Every Student Succeeds Act, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

The federal education act was passed into law with bipartisan support in December 2015 under the administration of President Barack Obama. Its specific aim is to close the achievement gap for minority students.

Parents, teachers, school board members and social workers attended the parents' town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

[/media-credit] Parents, teachers, school board members and social workers attended the parents’ town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

It replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Georgia Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Deborah Gay speaks as a panelist at a parents' town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act, alongside DeKalb County School District Director of Research, Assessments and Grants Dr. Knox Phillips, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

Georgia Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Deborah Gay speaks as a panelist at a parents’ town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act, alongside DeKalb County School District Director of Research, Assessments and Grants Dr. Knox Phillips, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.

ESSA reduces federal mandates over education, and gives states and school districts the power to design and implement systems catering to the needs of specific communities, schools, classrooms and students.

ESSA is partway through being implemented and brings with it the power for parents and caregivers to help shape their children’s education, which is what Georgia officials want to see happening throughout metro Atlanta including in DeKalb County.

Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, speaks during a parents' town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act, alongside panelists Tyler Barr, Georgia PTA President; Deborah Gay, Georgia Department of Education Deputy Superintendent; Dr. Knox Phillips, DeKalb County School District Director of Research, Assessments and Grants; and Patrice Barlow, Atlanta NAACP Education Committee member, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23

[/media-credit] Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, speaks during a parents’ town hall on the Every Student Succeeds Act, alongside panelists Tyler Barr, Georgia PTA President; Deborah Gay, Georgia Department of Education Deputy Superintendent; Dr. Knox Phillips, DeKalb County School District Director of Research, Assessments and Grants; and Patrice Barlow, Atlanta NAACP Education Committee member, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23

“ESSA is a true opportunity and we cannot miss this critical opportunity to make sure our voices and concerns are heard. If we don’t, the doors will close and the opportunity, the choices and decisions will pass,” said Patrice Barlow, a member of the Atlanta NAACP Education Committee.

Barlow was one of four panelists at an Oct. 23 parents’ town hall on ESSA, convened by the National Newspaper Publishers Association – “The Black Press” – at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

The panelists – Barlow, Georgia PTA President Tyler Barr, Georgia Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Deborah Gay, and Dr. Knox Phillips, DeKalb County School District Director of Research, Assessments and Grants – said it is crucial for parents to be involved in how ESSA is implemented in their children’s schools.

“ESSA creates the opportunity for every community, every school to design a plan for improvement that is unique. There’s not a prescriptive template anymore,” Gay said.

Community input encouraged

The 50-plus people present included parents, teachers, school board members and social workers from throughout metro Atlanta, who asked questions about the new law and Georgia’s plan, and voiced concerns about the current state of local education, saying there needs to be more teachers, smaller class sizes, more help for disabled students and their families, more culturally relevant teaching material, more teacher training and greater accountability for principals under pressure to make schools and students look good on paper.

One former teacher of 22 years, who asked not to be named, said he left the profession last year after a principal made him alter test scores.

Georgia’s Department of Education spent over a year consulting stakeholders, including parents, and drafting its 111-page ESSA plan, which it submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on Sept. 18 for review within 100 days.

“ESSA creates the opportunity for every community, every school to design a plan for improvement that is unique. There’s not a prescriptive template anymore.” Deborah Gay, Georgia Department of Education

“ESSA creates the opportunity for every community, every school to design a plan for improvement that is unique. There’s not a prescriptive template anymore.” Deborah Gay, Georgia Department of Education

Once Georgia’s plan has been finalized and approved, each school district in the state will create its own plan. That’s where parents, caregivers, community leaders, church groups and nonprofits can really make a difference, by reading up on ESSA, attending town halls, joining school boards and committees, lobbying policy makers and holding officials to account.

Panelists said this is the time for parents to voice concerns about their children’s education, make suggestions for improvement, volunteer in school programs, email elected officials and be proactive in general.

“The ESSA plan, if it communicates nothing else, is that this is a collective activity for all of us to engage together, work together and maybe start to realize the dream of that 1965 legislation in a way we couldn’t before,” Gay said.

“School districts have more flexibility now under ESSA than they have in many years, but the success of it will depend on the strong engagement of stakeholders being knowledgeable, understanding the needs of their community and bringing those into the schools,” she said.

Emphasis on improvement

To comply with ESSA and fulfill its ideals, the Georgia Department of Education is grouping achievement indicators in five categories – content mastery, progress, closing gaps, readiness and graduation rate – applied according to grade bands.

Students will still primarily be assessed on statewide test scores for English, math, science and social studies, with other data recorded such as how well a student is progressing compared to academically similar peers, how well schools are progressing towards improvement targets, whether schools offer alternative classes, and what access exists to support services and resources.

Annual targets will be set for every school, so the Georgia Department of Education can reach its long-term goal of closing the achievement gap by 45 percent over 15 years. It will also establish an assessment task force, comprising stakeholders and experts, to explore assessment methods and how they can be scaled statewide.

Dr. Elizabeth Primas, program manager for ­NNPA’s ESSA initiative, said there will be less high-stakes testing for students.

Students will still have to take standardized reading and math tests in grades three through eight and once in high school, but states can choose their own standards and accountability systems as long as they align with ESSA.

“States can now write their own standards. It’s taking the federal government a little bit out of public education, that’s public and charter, and putting it back into the hands of the community where they serve,” Primas said, adding that Georgia’s ESSA plan is a living document to be revised and amended to suit specific needs within the state.

ESSA comes with $1.6 billion in federal funding that is not only available to schools, but also to nonprofit organizations able to provide support services, resources and programs to help schools and students achieve ESSA goals and standards.

The holistic community approach in educating children is a key theme of Georgia’s new education state plan, which also aims to teach and assess children in a more holistic way than before.

“Georgia is going to get more education money,” said NNPA President Dr. Benjamin Chavis.

“The question is what is Georgia going to do with that money and how is that money going to impact and make quality education more accessible?” he said. “We want to arouse awareness among our parents about what is happening in the education sector, and we have to be focused on where the resources are going and how local school boards and state departments of education are allocating those resources.”

NNPA is holding ESSA town halls throughout the country.

The Georgia PTA sees ESSA as an improvement and a step in the right direction.

“Finding innovative and flexible ways to assess academic achievement is an essential extension of Georgia’s current policies,” Barr said. “One test cannot accurately reflect a student’s knowledge, and by extension, that same single test cannot accurately evaluate a school.”

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