Opportunities For Governors: Every Student Succeeds Act

Every Student Succeeds Act:
Opportunities for Governors

BACKGROUND
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed by Congress and signed by the President in December 2015,
replaces the prescriptive federal accountability and school intervention regime of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) with
freedom for states to decide the best path for school success.
ESSA is built for governors to fuel state and local innovation. ESSA allows for wholesale state ownership of recent
and future reform of standards, assessment, teacher evaluation and school accountability. ESSA also recognizes the
alignment necessary for a 21st century education system.
Implementation of the law begins immediately. As 46 state legislatures convene in 2016, state education agencies,
legislators and school districts are currently evaluating the law to determine policy changes necessary to comply with
the new requirements. This document lays out potential opportunities, issues and potential federal engagement for
governors during this review and planning.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GOVERNORS
Role of the Governor

ESSA creates a role for governors in federal education policy by including provisions to:
Require state education agencies to develop the state plan with governors;
Create a process for engagement of state education agencies with governors and their staff; and
Require gubernatorial sign off on the ESSA state plan.
Key Message: A high-quality education must be provided from early childhood into the workforce. A role for
governors in ESSA ensures state and federal policies work together toward that goal while elevating the importance
of the new law in each state.
State Opportunities:
Assures involvement by governors during administration of ESSA, including states where governors do not have
direct authority over state education agencies
Allows oversight of state education agencies by governors and monitoring of their capacity to implement ESSA
Permits governors to bring early childhood, postsecondary and workforce agencies to the table to implement
ESSA with state education agencies
Creates formal process for gubernatorial input in the allocation and award of federal education funding
Federal Action: As the leader of each states education system, governors can ensure they are consulted for
substantive input throughout the ESSA implementation process.
Standards
ESSA doubles down on state control of academic standards by including provisions to:
Expressly prohibit the Secretary of Education, or any other federal government agent, from coercing or
incentivizing states into adopting specific standards, such as Common Core State Standards; and
Require that standards be challenging without prescribing specific characteristics.
Key message: Academic standards have always been a state decision. ESSA guarantees the federal government
honors their choice.
Prevents an extensive federal approval process for adjustments to standards
Allows governors to reassure education stakeholders that the final result of these reviews will not be influenced
by any federal entity
o At least 19 states currently or recently conducting reviews of their academic standards
Potential Issues for States:
States could receive requests to review and modify current standards given new prohibitions on any federal role
in standards and no requirement that standards be college- and career-ready.
Federal Action: Governors can work with the U.S. Department of Education to limit guidance and encourage
restraint in federal regulation of state academic standards.
Testing
ESSA continues to mandate annual assessments in math and English and requires that 95% of students in the state be
assessed, but provides flexibility to:
Allow the substitution of a nationally-recognized exam mandated high school assessments;
Reduce high-stakes summative exams by permitting multiple assessments during a school year and portfoliobased or observational assessments to determine student achievement; and
Allow states to utilize federal dollars to identify and reduce/consolidate unnecessary state and local tests not
required by ESSA.
Key message: Efforts to reduce testing are underway in states and districts across the country. ESSA provides
additional flexibility and federal resources to support this work.
Allows states to use the major theme of testing reduction present throughout ESSA and creates an opportunity
for additional states to review the frequency of and time spent on assessments
o At least 16 states conducted similar reviews of assessments in 2015
Last year, high rates of students opting out of federally mandated assessments caused several states to fall below
the 95% assessment participation threshold.
o The U.S. Department of Education did not penalize those states, but indicated in a recent letter to states that
they would withhold Title I ESSA funding next year should this trend continue.
States will continue to experience complaints that the total number of federally mandated assessments did not
decrease.
Federal Action: States can work with districts and the federal government to explore alternative methods to derive
a summative assessment score if a student opts out of a required assessment.
Accountability
ESSA replaces the prescriptive federal system of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), school interventions and federal
performance targets for states with:
A state-determined accountability system that allows states to set their own long-term goals;
State-designed school quality indicators based on multiple measures that include academic achievement, growth
in student achievement, graduation rates, English language proficiency and school quality/student success outside
of assessments; and
States shaping how districts respond to schools with high achievement gaps between the overall student
populations and traditionally vulnerable subgroups of students.
Key message: The repeal of No Child Left Behind recognizes states and schools as best-suited to provide a highquality education to every child, regardless of their background.
2
Allows NCLB waiver states to build on previously designed state accountability systems
Ensures that state education agencies can build accountability systems around a workforce readiness indicator
that is aligned with the states workforce system and state industry needs.
States are now required to incorporate a measure of school quality in their accountability system, (i.e. an indicator
based on school climate surveys). Many states will need to work with local districts and education stakeholders
to determine how to design this indicator to produce data that can be disaggregated by student subgroup, as
required by ESSA.
States are also required to place much greater weight on academic measures traditionally measured by tests.
Recent concern about over testing and the use of tests in educator evaluation systems may cause education
stakeholders to recommend placing as much weight as possible on non-academic measures.
NCLB waiver states were permitted to place separate categories of vulnerable students (low-income, minority,
etc.) into one large category, called a super subgroup, to measure their performance in relation to the overall
student population. ESSA does not permit the use of these demographic super subgroups, but does allow the use
of academic super subgroups of low-performing students often used in accountability systems with A-F school
grades.
Federal Action: Governors can facilitate a discussion with education stakeholders at the national level to inform the
federal governments efforts to offer regulations and guidance on ESSAs accountability structure.
School Improvement
ESSA eliminates federally-dictated interventions and the federal program allowing states to use four strategies to
respond to low-performing schools in nearly 14,000 U.S. school districts and replaces them with:
State identification of low-performing schools based on their accountability system;
State flexibility to reserve 7% of the $14.9 billion ESSA Title I program to improve low performing schools; and
Freedom for states and school districts to select or develop an evidence based intervention, which could include
a statewide turnaround/achievement school district.
Key Message: ESSA takes decisions about fixing our nations schools out of the hands of the federal government
and places them into the hands of communities.
Provides more than $500 million annually for school improvement and expands the variety of options states may
utilize to address school performance
Permits state-approved improvement strategies designed or refined at the local level
Could allow for privately-managed improvement methods and early childhood education expansion to address
school performance
Ninety-five percent of funding must be awarded to school districts, which may prioritize locally-designed
strategies over those designed by the state.
States may need to build up expertise to address performance issues related to school climate/quality and
proficiency of English language learners, both areas are new required indicators in state accountability systems.
With the expansion in the number of school improvement models districts may utilize, state education agencies
may face capacity issues to monitor performance of these models.
Federal Action: Governors can ensure that the definition of evidence based for school improvement strategies be
determined by states and request that the U.S. Department of Educations guidance on school improvement remain
broad to allow for state innovation.
Teacher Quality and Supply

ESSA replaces the federal definition of a highly qualified teacher and an unfunded, mandated teacher evaluation
system with:
Determination of qualified teachers and paraprofessionals based on state certification and licensure requirements;
An allowable, but not required, use of ESSA Title II funding to develop and implement a statewide teacher
evaluation system; and
The use of ESSA Title II funding to establish teacher preparation academies.
Key Message: Under ESSA, state leadership to establish fair and thorough teacher evaluation systems is no longer
inhibited by cumbersome federal approval processes.
Allows states to use Title II funds to ensure equitable access to effective teaching for low-income and minority
students
Creates a flexible path for states to implement teacher performance pay systems
The movement to establish statewide teacher evaluations have led to contentious debate that intensified when the
U.S. Department of Education required these systems as a condition to receive an NCLB waiver. With the federal
teacher evaluation mandate repealed, state-level advocacy to repeal or significantly modify teacher evaluation
systems will present a challenge for states that are committed to continuing their operation.
National Action: Governors can work with state education agencies to collect and disseminate state best practices
on teacher evaluation systems.
Early Childhood Education

ESSA interweaves early childhood education throughout the law by:
Authorizing a Preschool Development Grants program for governors to increase collaboration among early
childhood education and K-12 programs in their state; and
Allowing states to use Title I, Title II and Title III funds to expand early childhood education access, to ensure
smooth transitions from early education to K-12 and to train high quality early childhood educatory workforce.
Key message: ESSAs new emphasis on collaboration and gubernatorial involvement allows for unprecedented
alignment and coordination across the education pipeline. The law finally recognizes what states knew long ago a
high-quality education begins at early childhood and continues into the workforce.
o For states that are ramping up state early education programs, ESSA creates a resource to boost those efforts
o For states that have long-standing early education programs, ESSA allows for an additional focus on ensuring
smooth transitions into kindergarten and first grade
The resources for the Preschool Development Grants program are limited (less than $250 million) and it is likely
that a limited number of states will be awarded funds.
Federal Action: Governors can work with the federal government to create clear guidance to ensure that state
education agencies and early childhood agencies prioritize early childhood education during ESSA implementation.
****
NGA is available to brief governors offices, state agencies and education stakeholders in states. For more
information, please contact Stephen Parker at (202) 624-5369 or sparker@nga.org.
4

Opportunities For Governors: Every Student Succeeds Act

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Opportunities For Governors: Every Student Succeeds Act

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Opportunities For Governors: Every Student Succeeds Act

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Every Student Succeeds Act:

Opportunities for Governors

OPPORTUNITIES FOR GOVERNORS

Role of the Governor

Teacher Quality and Supply

Early Childhood Education

You might also like