Last winter, President Obama signed into law The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The new law replaces No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which had been on the books since 2002. Like NCLB, ESSA reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and provides a vehicle for most of the federal education dollars targeted to low-income schools, authorizing an additional $1.2 billion nationwide for struggling communities.
What is Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965?
When it was passed in 1965, the purpose of ESEA was to provide additional resources for vulnerable students. ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, federal grants for textbooks and library books, created special education centers, and created scholarships for low-income college students. The law also provided federal grants to state educational agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education.
NCLB, with its prescriptive testing and reporting requirements, exposed inequities and brought scrutiny on schools that failed to produce improved test scores for students, including those with disabilities. But backlash over standardized testing – and growing concern that test scores may not be an adequate measure of school success – prompted lawmakers to make changes.
ESSA – all 1061 pages of it – preserves dedicated resources and supports for vulnerable children, including students with disabilities, English learners, and minorities, but it significantly rolls back the authority of the U.S. Department of Education over decisions around curricula, standards, and testing. The bottom line: States are still accountable for outcomes, but regain control over how to manage under-performing schools, school ratings, and teacher evaluations.
ESSA includes changes that will have an impact on students with disabilities.
Academic Standards
Under ESSA, states must adopt “challenging” academic standards for all public school students in key areas – math, reading or language arts, and science. They must also adopt achievement standards aligned with those content standards that include at least 3 levels of achievement.
ESSA allows states to establish “Alternate Academic Achievement Standards for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities,” so long as those standards are aligned with the academic content standards and promote access to the general education curriculum.
Assessments
Statewide standard testing in reading and math will continue under ESSA for all students every year in grades three through eight, and once in high school. Science testing is required three times between grades three and twelve. States have the option of dropping statewide standard testing in high school in favor of nationally recognized assessments, such as the SAT or ACT, which means that some students could sit for fewer tests. And while teacher evaluations are no longer linked to standardized test scores, states have the option to continue the practice.
Like NCLB, ESSA requires students – including those with disabilities – to take part in standardized testing. And like NCLB, ESSA allows up to 1% of all students – roughly 10 percent of all students with disabilities – to take alternate assessment aligned with alternate achievement standards. These alternate assessments are intended for students with severe cognitive disabilities. The alternate assessment cannot preclude a student from receiving a regular high school diploma.
ESSA encourages the development of richer, performance-based assessments through the use of multiple measures, and “may include” portfolios and projects.
To address concerns about over-testing, the ESSA permits states to set targets for total time spent on testing. State and school districts may use federal funds to audit their testing systems and eliminate redundant or unnecessary tests.
Teacher Qualifications
NCLB prohibited out-of-field teachers and those on emergency certificates from being considered “highly qualified.” ESSA eliminates the term “highly qualified teachers” from IDEA. That language specifically required some special education teachers to have additional certification in subject areas, and prohibited teachers with emergency certificates. ESSA gives the states the ability to define teacher licensure and qualifications.
A “Well Rounded Education”
ESSA eliminates the term “Core Academic Subjects” and replaces it with the term “a well rounded education.” This broader term includes courses, activities and programming in areas such as English, reading or language arts, writing, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography, computer science, music, career and technical education, health, physical education, and any other subject, determined by the State or local educational agency, as providing all students access to an enriched curriculum and educational experience.
Reporting and Data Collection
As states and school districts regain control over how the tests are to be used, they also have more leeway on what is to be measured and how to intervene if testing indicates that particular sub-groups, school, or district is lagging. Schools will continue to report aggregate scores for students with disabilities as well as other groups but may also incorporate additional measures of quality such as educator engagement, student engagement, access to and completion of advanced coursework, and school climate and safety.
ESSA requires reporting information to the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, in areas such as suspensions and expulsions, school-related arrests and referrals to law enforcement, and chronic absenteeism. States will be required to develop plans on how they propose to reduce bullying and harassment, restraint and seclusion, and suspensions and expulsions—all of which disproportionately affect students with disabilities.
States will be required to report four-year graduation rates for students who take alternative tests and who earn alternative diplomas.
Looking Ahead
As ESSA shrinks the federal footprint and scales back a decade of federal mandates, it will be up to state and local education departments to ensure that students with disabilities, those from low-income families, English learners, and minorities get an equitable education. States are required to adopt “challenging” and rigorous academic standards – vague language that may trigger battles over interpretation among rule-makers.
The U.S. Dept. of Education is expected to begin rulemaking to implement the new statute. Incoming acting U.S. Education Secretary John King believes that ESSA makes very clear that academic indicators and success rates of students with disabilities will remain a predominant factor in how schools are evaluated. King said Washington will continue to have levers to withhold funds from states that do not “honor their obligation to promote equity.”
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