Hawaii Island Complex Area superintendents, State Superintendent of Education Kathryn Matayoshi, and several other education leaders from Oahu met to gather feedback on proposed updates to Hawaii’s current “joint strategic plan.” Officials are drafting an updated version to be presented to the State Board of Education in December.
Local Superintendents Gather Feedback on Joint Strategic Plan
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VT Parents and Community Members Attend Conference to Discuss ESSA
ESSA was discussed by more than 150 parents and community members who attended a conference at the Jay Peak Resort last week. According to Agency of Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe, “The conference was well attended, and in the past few months we’ve had input from more than 1,000 Vermonters from every corner of the state.” Input from educators and community members at the retreat will help the Agency of Education to reflect the priorities and values of Vermonters in the final Plan document. “We are way ahead in our schedule,” said Susan Koch, conference participant and 2016 Vermont Teacher of the Year.
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IA Dept. of Education Announces State ESSA Committee
Iowa Dept. of Education Director Ryan Wise announced a new state committee to provide input on development of Iowa’s plan. The 26-member group met for the first time last week and includes educators and representatives of school boards, area education agencies, education associations, and parents.
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NC Dept. of Public Instruction Schedules Second Round of Public Comment Sessions
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has scheduled a second round of six public comment sessions to receive feedback on ESSA. The purpose of this second round of sessions is to provide opportunities for the public to make comments on the rough draft of the state’s plan, which will be posted by October 3rd on NCDPI’s ESSA website.
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Why Maximizing ESSA’s Potential is Crucial for Student Success
Liam Goldrick, director of policy for the New Teacher Center, wrote on the importance of maximizing ESSA’s potential for students and schools. Goldrick argued ESSA has the potential to “bring greater balance to our schools” and “drive equity in education.” The New Teacher Center has also issued a checklist for school districts to follow so that ESSA is implemented efficiently.
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Council of State Governments Midwest Release Policy Brief on In-State Activities
The Council of State Governments Midwest posted a policy brief outlining some of the details of ESSA including an estimated implementation timeline and summary of publicly available information from Midwestern state education agencies on their ESSA activities. States in the brief include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
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The Effects of Recent State Board of Education Elections on ESSA Plans
The National Association of State Boards of Education issued a policy update on the effects of recent state board of education elections on ESSA plans. According to NASBE, due to the “uncertain trajectory of federal rule making around ESSA” and unknown state election results, it is “unclear how state boards will respond and what new approaches they may take.” NASBE argued that members will need to make “important changes right away” due to ESSA’s scheduled implementation for 2017-2018.
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VA Likely to Postpone ESSA Plan Implementation
As reported by the Roanoke Times, Virginia will “likely take advantage” of the new regulations that allow states to postpone ESSA plan implementation. According to State Superintendent Steven Staples, “We may not have to rush to get that plan in now.”
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New Toolkit Designed to Help States Plan ESSA Implementation
Leading Educators, in collaboration with Education First, released a “State Teacher Leadership Toolkit” designed to help states plan ESSA implementation. The toolkit provides a “playbook” for states to “develop a framework to guide the planning, design, implementation, and assessment of teacher leadership initiatives.” The document also showcases “best practices and emerging models” from various states including Iowa, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.
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OH Dept. of Ed Submits ESSA Plan to U.S. Dept. of Ed
The Ohio Department of Education sent its ESSA plan to the U.S. Dept. of Education “after delaying the submission by months to consider feedback from educators and community members.” State officials “will begin working with area districts to implement the ESSA plan once it’s approved at the federal level.”
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The 74 Previews an Interesting Year for ESSA
The 74 is taking a look ahead to the 2018–2019 school year—and ESSA’s transition from planning to practice. They explore how, as a new Administration wrangles with enforcement, the new law is not a “footnote” from 2015, but rather a “2018 test,” when states will “finally roll out and have to abide by their approved accountability plans.” So, 16 years after NCLB and two years after ESSA’s signing into law, The 74 has “assembled an exclusive series of articles, essays, and videos, to consider how American education may change during 2018.”
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Helping Districts Meet ESSA Research Deadline
“It’s the first finding of pretty much any education study, regardless of the topic or the intervention: We need more research,” reports Sarah D. Sparks. But for educators and policymakers trying to improve education under ESSA, “understanding the good-enough evidence can be more important than finding the best silver bullet.”
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Ed Week’s Indispensable ESSA Guide
Education Week’s Alyson Klein writes about the publication’s new special report called “ESSA on the Runway”, which “analyzes the state of ESSA implementation on the eve of the law’s operational debut” and “takes a multifaceted look at just how ready those states, districts, and schools are to bringing ESSA’s changes in for a successful landing when the law goes into full effect for the 2018-19 school year.”
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Challenges and Questions ESSA Presents for Districts
With the school year fast approaching, Alyson Klein asks in Education Week what is “the toughest part of the Every Student Succeeds Act for districts to get a handle on?” To find out, she asked a few experts, including Noelle Ellerson Ng from The School Superintendents Association, Jeff Simering from Great City Schools, and David DeSchryver from Whiteboard Advisors. Their answers ranged from concerns about promoting equitable funding, tackling challenges around test-participation rates, and some confusion around Title IV.
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Feds Update Ed Advocates on ESSA
Klein reports that on September 24, federal education officials met privately “with a select group of education advocates at the department to talk the Every Student Succeeds Act, the school safety commission, choice, and career and technical education.” Secretary DeVos wasn’t present, but the group “heard from Mick Zais, the deputy secretary; Frank Brogan, the assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education; Jim Blew, the assistant secretary for planning evaluation and policy analysis, and Scott Stump, the assistant secretary for career-and-technical education.” Brogan said of ESSA implementation that the federal agency’s job is “leave it the hell alone and let it work.” He “did not sketch out any guidance or regulations that the department would be issuing on the new law,” but “he did say that the feds would be reviewing programs authorized under the law to make sure taxpayers are getting a fair return on their investment.”
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Senate education committee to hear from states today
The Senate education committee will be holding a hearing today to listen to the state perspective on implementation of ESSA. The committee have invited education chiefs from Nebraska (Matthew Blomstedt), Delaware (Susan Bunting), and South Carolina (Molly Spearman), as well as the president of Democrats for Education Reform Shavar Jeffries, to speak. The hearing is scheduled to start at 10am (ET).
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Feds Work on ESSA Just Beginning
Alyson Klein of Education Week reports that, despite the approval of most (now all) state ESSA plans by the U.S. Department of Education, in some ways, “the federal government’s work on ESSA is just beginning.” While the law’s “hallmark may be state and local control,” the Education Department “still has the responsibility to oversee the more than $21 billion in federal funding pumped out to states and districts under ESSA.” This will more than likely take the form of monitoring.” The department also “has other oversight powers, including issuing guidance on the law’s implementation, writing reports on ESSA, and deciding when and how states can revise their plans.”
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Louisiana State Chief on ESSA Plan, Implementation
Contributing for the Daily Advertiser, State Chief John White writes that Louisiana’s ESSA plan has “set expectations for all students that are as ambitious as expectations in any state in the country.” He also states that in the next two months, as the “state Department of Education and local school systems implement this new plan, these high expectations will be evident and on full display for communities.” However, White notes, it is “important that all involved—parents and educators, in particular—be aware of critical changes and of what they mean for the children and schools of our state.”
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Key Details on State ESSA Plans
Andrew Ujifusa reports for Education Week about the publication’s updated ESSA tracker, highlighting “six individual policy areas that advocates, analysts, and educators are watching closely,” in each state’s plan, such as long-term objectives, measuring school quality “beyond test scores and graduation rates,” and school ratings.
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New School Report Cards in Illinois Focus on Student Growth
Karen Berkowitz reports in the Chicago Tribune that on October 31, Illinois will release its new school report cards, which under ESSA will now emphasize “students’ academic gains in relation to those of other students across the state.”
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