COMMENTARY: A Dream Deferred — Is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Just Another Elusive Dream?
By Dr. Elizabeth V. Primas, Program Manager, NNPA ESSA Awareness Campaign
In 1951, Langston Hughes laid bare the anxious aspirations of millions of Black people in America with his poem, “A Dream Deferred.” In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded America of the promissory note written to its citizens guaranteeing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in his “I Have a Dream” speech.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson attempted to make good on that promise by signing the Civil Rights Act into law. And in 1965, President Johnson sought to ensure equitable access to these unalienable rights by signing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law.
As a part of Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” ESEA was supposed to assist students of color in receiving a quality education, thereby helping lift them from poverty.
To date, ESEA remains one of the most impactful education laws ever ratified. ESEA established education funding formulas, guided academic standards, and outlined state accountability.
Since Johnson, presidents have re-authorized and/or launched new initiatives safeguarding the intentions of ESEA. Some of the most notable re-authorizations have been “No Child Left Behind” (2001, George W. Bush) and “Race to the Top” (2009, Barack Obama). The most recent re-authorization, the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA) was signed into law by President Obama in 2015.
In previous re-authorizations of ESEA, emphasis was placed on students’ ability to pass rigorous standards in order to proceed from one grade to the next. However, data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that a measurable achievement gap has persisted.
As education leaders review the individual state plans that have been developed and approved in keeping with the Every Student Succeeds Act, it is obvious that many states are making an attempt prioritize equity over performance. Some states have set timelines for their accountability measures, signifying the urgency of the problem, while other states continue to miss the mark by setting goals that are too distant, including the proposal of a twenty-year timetable to close the achievement gap.
I am concerned about ESSA State plans such as these, that pass the buck to future generations of educators and set the bar too low for vulnerable student populations.
In several states, schools that perform in the bottom 5% will receive funding to assist in closing the achievement gap. But, again, I wonder if we are setting the bar too low. I am not convinced that assisting schools in the bottom underperforming 5% will make a significant impact on closing the achievement gap in any city.
Still, I find hope in the new reporting guidelines outlined in ESSA. ESSA requires State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to develop school report cards so parents can compare which school is the best fit for their children.
District report cards must include the professional qualifications of educators, including the number and percentage of novice personnel, teachers with emergency credentials, and teachers teaching outside their area of expertise.
States must also report per-pupil spending for school districts and individual schools. Expenditures must be reported by funding source and must include actual personnel salaries, not district or state averages.
Parents must get engaged to hold legislators and educators accountable for their ESSA State Plans. Parents must also hold themselves accountable in prioritizing the education of our children. Research shows that just one year with a bad teacher can put a child three years behind. Now, think about what happens after years of neglect and lack of advocacy.
So, what happens to a dream deferred?
Parents hold tight to your dreams for your children’s futures. Be present in the school, be the squeaky wheel and don’t be afraid to demand the best for your children. Don’t stop at the classroom or schoolhouse door if you aren’t satisfied with the education your children are receiving. The race for educational advocacy is a run for your child’s quality of life.
Be the Parent Teacher Association’s (PTA) president. Be the neighborhood advisory commissioner. Be the next school board member. Be the next mayor of your city. Be on the City Council. Run for Congress. Be all that you want your children to be. Be the example.
Be Engaged.
For more information on how you can get engaged, go to www.nnpa.org/essa
Elizabeth Primas is an educator who spent more than 40 years working to improve education for children. She is the program manager for the NNPA’s Every Student Succeeds Act Public Awareness Campaign. Follow her on Twitter @elizabethprimas.
Obama Throws Support Behind Survivors of Parkland School Massacre
Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Former DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg are among the growing list of Hollywood insiders who are supporting next month’s March For Our Lives, the Washington D.C. rally organized by survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Winfrey, Clooney, Spielberg and Katzenberg have committed $500k each to the effort.
Today, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivors got the support of Former President Barack Obama, who tweeted: Young people have helped lead all our great movements. How inspiring to see it again in so many smart, fearless students standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be. We’ve been waiting for you. And we’ve got your backs.”
Former First Lady Michelle Obama also extended her support in the strongest of terms.
“I’m in total awe of the extraordinary students in Florida. Like every movement for progress in our history, gun reform will take unyielding courage and endurance. But @barackobama and I believe in you, we’re proud of you, and we’re behind you every step of the way.”
During his eight years in the White House, Obama served as “Consoler-In Chief” to relatives of victims as well as survivors of the Pulse Nightclub, San Bernardino terrorists, Washington Navy Yard shooting, Emmanuel AME Church, the Aurora theater shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, and was dubbed by some as the “most anti-gun president in American history”, but failed to get any meaningful legislation on gun control passed.
Encouragement also came from Hillary Clinton, who tweeted: “Parkland students, you have shown so much courage in standing up for truth, for your right to attend school safely, & now against these disgusting smears. The good news is, it will only make you louder & stronger.”
How Far Behind Is Trump in Staffing the Ed. Dept. Compared to Obama?
President Donald Trump has finally, finally started to nominate people to fill the top political ranks at the U.S. Department of Education. Recently, for example, the White House announced its pick for deputy secretary (former South Carolina state chief Mick Zais) and for assistant secretary for career, technical, and adult education (Michigan state Rep. Tim Kelly.)
But the Trump team is still really behind the eight-ball when it comes to staffing 400 Maryland Ave.
How far behind? We went back and looked to see when the Obama administration named its picks for some of the agency’s top players. In just about every instance, it was months ahead of the Trump crew…
Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.
MN Dept. of Ed Releases Preliminary Elements of ESSA Plan
A little over a year ago, Barack Obama signed into law the biggest K-12 education reform in over a decade: the Every Student Succeeds Act, a product of years-long compromise in Congress, was intended to smooth over the shortcomings of the previous education law of the land, No Child Left Behind.
The bill, informally called ESSA, aims to lighten the footprint of the federal government in K-12 education policy. Democrats and Republicans in Congress agreed to give local education policymakers greater authority to decide how schools and students were performing, and to decide how to allocate federal education dollars.
Minnesota and other states are currently working on their plans for complying with ESSA, and they will ultimately require approval from the U.S. Department of Education. Those plans, however, will arrive in a Washington under much different leadership than the one that signed ESSA into law.
Where Obama’s team believed there was an important role for the federal government to play in education, President Donald Trump’s controversial Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has supported conservative education causes — like providing vouchers to students attending private schools — and an ethos of taking power away from D.C.
Read the full article here:
D.C. Revises Plan as ESSA Deadline Draws Near
As deadlines approach for states to present the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) with final draft accountability plans for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the DC State Board of Education (SBOE) recently revisited the District’s plan, coming up with nearly a dozen recommendations for improving the proposal.
The recommendations, which impact both traditional public and charter school students, were provided on March 10 to the Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE).
“[D.C.’s plan for implementation of ESSA] will set long-term goals and strategies for citywide academic success and student support across all education sectors,” said Ward 8 SBOE member Markus Batchelor, who met earlier this month with OSSE staff, the Ward 8 Education Council and others to discuss details of D.C.’s plan which must be submitted by April 3.
“Most pertinent to the work of the board is the School Accountability Framework that will, for the first time, give families a clear picture of how well both DCPS and public charter schools are serving our students,” Batchelor said, noting that “schools will be ranked on a 5-star system based on a plethora of factors.”
President Barack Obama congratulates members of the House and Senate after signing the Every Student Succeeds Act into law in December 2015. (Official White House photo)
He added that while Ward 8 children stand to gain the most from ESSA’s successful implementation, they also have the most to lose from lack of public participation in conversations surrounding the legislation and last minute changes to the final draft.
“We’re midstream at this point, as we haven’t seen OSSE’s final draft yet and we did have some deep concerns with the initial draft,” he said. “We’re hoping OSSE includes our recommendations of what we heard during the public engagement period on Feb. 28 where parents, students and teachers expressed what schools should be accountable for.”
ESSA mandates the development of new state accountability systems during the 2016-17 year which will be implemented in the 2018-19 term.
DOE, in accordance with the timeline set by the Obama administration, has established two deadlines this year — April 3 and Sept. 18 — for the submission of plans. D.C. lists along with 17 states that include Arizona, Delaware and Louisiana angling for the early deadline.
SBOE’s 10 recommendations include establishing task forces to measure high school growth, conducting a study on testing in DC schools, disaggregation of economically disadvantaged students and exempting students with severe impairments from taking the standardized assessment, known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
ESSA, signed into law on Dec. 10, 2015, by President Barack Obama, replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, often criticized for setting unrealistic expectations for schools and students. One example: expecting 100 percent of the nation’s public school students to achieve proficiency in basic math and reading skills.
State Superintendent Hanseul Kang, unavailable for comment, explained in a community letter that DC’s plan focuses on how it will support specific groups of students and define quality schools.
“ESSA offers new flexibilities to states and opportunities for D.C. regarding supports for students and schools, teacher and leader training and evaluations and statewide student assessment,” he said. “D.C.’s plan will include these areas and a major component will address a common system for rating and reporting on all D.C. public and public charter schools.”
Meanwhile, the D.C.-based National Newspaper Publishers Association — an organization of more than 200 black-owned media outlets, received a three-year, $1.5 million grant in January from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in support of a multi-media public awareness campaign focused on ESSA-aligned educational opportunities.
“The ESSA law was established to help increase the effectiveness of public education in every state,” NNPA President and CEO Dr. Ben Chavis said in an interview with Washington Informer Senior Writer Stacy Brown.
“Our task is to inform, inspire and encourage parents, students, teachers and administrators to fulfill the intent and objectives of ESSA with special focus on those students and communities that have been marginalized and underserved by the education system across the nation,” Chavis said.
States across the country, including Maryland, Virginia, California, Michigan and Georgia, continue to fine-tune their ESSA plans in preparation for the upcoming DOE submission deadline.