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NEA Today
The Every Student Succeeds Act: Four Years Later, How Much Progress?
By Cindy Long
December 11, 2019
It’s been four years since the test and punish era of No Child Left
Behind was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act. Although the
new law transferred decisions about school improvement and
accountability to states and districts, public schools are still in the
process of implementing the law and ensuring it makes good on its
promise to ensure equity for all students.
On December 10, exactly four years after President Barack Obama signed
ESSA into law, the Collaborative For Student Success held an ESSA
Anniversary Summit on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. NEA Vice
President Becky Pringle participated in a panel, Improving Schools and
Advancing Equity, along with Susie Feliz, Vice President, Policy and
Legislative Affairs National Urban League Washington Bureau, Lindsay
Jones, President & CEO, National Center for Learning Disabilities,
and Mendell Grinter, Board Member, Country Music Association Foundation.
The panelists agreed that four years is a long time for students and
parents waiting for equity and improvement in their schools. In four
years, a student graduates high school; in four years elementary
students are getting close to middle school. But finding the best ways
to apply the flexibility and implement new practices from nearly a
decade of the harsh testing regime of NCLB is an arduous process.
To be sure, there are many successes and new opportunities, but some
states haven’t had the capacity to take advantage of the innovations
built into the law, Pringle pointed out.
Referencing Eleanor Roosevelt’s speech “Human Rights in the Small
Places”, she said the changes much take place “in small places, close
to home.” In the case of ESSA, that means in schools, around a table,
with local stakeholders like parents, community members, and of course,
teachers.
“For far too long this nation has not lived up to its promise to
students who are continually underserved…” Pringle said. “Arts in the
schools…Nurses, counselors, librarians, access to AP courses, all takes
money. We know students can’t learn if they’re hungry or if they don’t
have eye glasses if they don’t feel respected and honored for the
cultures they bring to the classroom. Those opportunities matter and
for decades we spent time and money on tests, and not even in a
comprehensive way.”
Pringle challenged policymakers and administrators to go into their
state’s best schools with a clipboard and make a list of all the things
those schools have that make them great. This includes arts, AP
courses, nurses, counselors, top technology, up-to-date textbooks and
media centers, a diverse teaching force, a welcoming school climate
with restorative discipline practices that don’t fuel the school to
prison pipeline. They should then take that clipboard to low performing
schools and see what’s missing. That is where the promise and
opportunity of ESSA is found.
“We worked hard to get those indicators of what makes a great school
into the law, now we need to see them become part of state and district
plans and implementations,” she said.
To successfully implement the promise of ESSA, Pringle added, let
educators take the lead, give them the information they need to take
their seat at the table and be leaders of change in their schools.
Success in the States
NEA members were critical partners in the development of their state
plans. In Louisiana, the state opted to include opportunity indicators
that were still focused on assessments. Educators rallied to limit
testing time, and they helped pass a measure that limited testing on
all standards-based assessments for public school students per school
year to no more than 2 percent of the minimum number of instructional
minutes per year.
In Fairbanks, AK, NEA members have been hosting site-based
conversations about ESSA opportunities and conducting equity audits
with other educators to provide the district with a better picture of
what changes need to happen to elevate the learning environment for all
students. In some areas, members are moving school board policies
around getting a seat at the table.
Educators in Mundelein, IL, acted as community liaisons and were able
to increase parent involvement in their schools to ensure that all
voices were heard.
Around the country at the school level, educators are hosting listening
sessions with peers to learn more about how they can best support their
students. They’re attending racial and social justice trainings and
taking those lessons back to their school sites so they can ensure that
all students, regardless of zip code, have every single resource needed
to succeed.
In Camden, AR, education support professionals partnered with the local
faith-based community to identify what the community believed the
schools top areas of improvement should be.
But even with those successes, ESSA will not bring about significant change if “we don’t take on racial justice,” Pringle said.
“I want to be really clear about this. There is an interlocking system
including everything from housing to healthcare, all of which impacts
what’s happening in our schools. If we don’t face racial justice head
on, we’re just tinkering around the edges. And we will not ensure all
students get what they need.”
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