Ins and Outs of ESSA
- Kasey Brown
- Jan 31, 2023
- 3 min read
An educator's take on the act that replaced No Child Left Behind
Synthesis:
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was created by the Obama administration in 2015 to replace the previous No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). While the NCLB was a step in the right direction in the world of education, the “prescriptive requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools and educators (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Enter ESSA. While there are many ins and outs to the act, in essence ESSA provides more flexibility to individual states when it comes to testing and also creates a more transparent reporting measure for families and community members. Much like the NCLB, ESSA pushes for equality among students and creates parameters to help student success rates rise. The development of the act indicates a nationwide desire to provide high quality instruction for all students in all socioeconomic communities.
ESSA in Texas
The new law opened the door for states to have more control over how standardized state tests are administered. While the law still requires every state to test students in reading, math, and science, the form in which students are tested is completely up to the state. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released a Redlined State Plan Amendment in 2016 stating that the foundation of their plan would be supported by four strategic priorities and three enablers to support those priorities (TEA Strategic Plan, 2016).
The plan also opened the lines of communication between schools and families by simplifying the terms and means in which results are communicated through state report cards. Texas adopted a simple A-F system that explains the performance of schools on standardized testing, but also portrays other information such as average money spent per student and information regarding the lowest performing 5% of schools. As an educator, another win from the ESSA was the fact that the act discourages schools from using test results as a direct connection to teacher performance.
U.S Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos stated that the general idea of the act is to “ensure every child is prepared for success in college, a career, or the military (Wright, 2018). The state of Texas is continually working to create a fair and equal learning environment for all learners. It is important for educators to understand the alignment TEA created for this act so that classroom instruction can be delivered to meet the rigorous thinking and questioning presented through the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR).
What remains unclear?
I would love to know more about the idea of “Innovative Assessments” that is mentioned multiple times throughout the act. With the push to navigate away from paper and pencil assessments and move towards more authentic assessments through student portfolio and teacher conferences, I would love to see that kind of innovation implemented on standardized testing in Texas. If we are going to prepare students for real world career scenarios, this kind of authentic assessment opportunity woven into the standardized testing formalities can really help students succeed.
Role of the Educator
The documentation over the act and how Texas has responded is a very detailed and lengthy document. While the document contains an immense amount of legal jargon, it is important for educators to stay current on amendments and trends being made to the way Texas plans to assesses students. If we are going to hold our students accountable, educators have to be willing to remain accountable in what is expected of us and educate ourselves on what could be coming down the pipe and how it could affect our students and classroom instruction.
Resources
References
TEA Strategic Plan, (2016). https://www.esc1.net/cms/lib/TX21000366/Centricity/Domain/108/TEAESSAStatePlan-PublicCommentDraft.pdf
U.S. Department of Education. (2019). The Elementary Secondary Education Act (The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2016). Ed.gov. https://doi.org/http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/index.html
Wright, S. (2018). ESSA Implementation in Texas [Review of ESSA Implementation in Texas]. In National Council of Teachers of English. https://ncte.org/report/ncte-policy-report-texas/
Through the Critical Issues in EdTech course I previously took, I learned to look at some of these topics through a different lens at times. As an educator, I was wondering what positives and negatives you have personally experienced at your schools since ESSA took place? For me, I have noticed some great positives, such as integrating new ways of learning through technology and the additions of programs that allow low income families the same learning experiences as their peers for equitable learning. Some of the negatives I have seen are administrations enforcing specific forms of teaching in order for students to possibly make higher testing scores so that the school makes a higher grade to look better in the…