1. The New Federal Landscape
Chris Minnich
Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers
@minnichc

4. ESEA & the Foundation for NCLB, ESSA
By passing this bill, we bridge the gap between helplessness and hope for more than five million educationally deprived children. We put into the hands of our youth more than 30 million new books, and into many of our schools their first libraries. We reduce the terrible time lag in bringing new teaching techniques into the nation's classrooms. We strengthen state and local agencies which bear the burden and the challenge of better education. And we rekindle the revolution--the revolution of the spirit against the tyranny of ignorance. As a son of a tenant farmer, I know that education is the only valid passport from poverty.
-President Lyndon B. Johnson, April 11, 1965

5. No Child Left Behind
“No longer is it acceptable to hide poor performance. No longer is it acceptable to keep results away from parents. One of the interesting things about this bill, it says that we're never going to give up on a school that's performing poorly; that when we find poor performance, a school will be given time and incentives and resources to correct their problems.”
-- President George W. Bush, January 8, 2002

6. No Child Left Behind & Testing
Required annual testing in Math & ELA for grades 3-8 and once in high school
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) increased the amount of data available to educators, including:
Grade-level performance
Academic performance by subgroups (racial/ethnic subgroups, English Language Learners, Students with Disabilities, Low-income, etc.)
Percentage of students tested by subgroup

7. No Child Left Behind: Strengths & Weaknesses
Accountability
Strict regulation
Disaggregated data
No state-specific flexibility
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) builds on the strengths of NCLB, while addressing the weaknesses.

8. “And finally, this bill upholds the core value that animated the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act signed by President Lyndon Johnson -- the value that says education, the key to economic opportunity, is a civil right.  With this bill, we reaffirm that fundamental American ideal that every child, regardless of race, income, background, the zip code where they live, deserves the chance to make out of their lives what they will.”
-- President Barack Obama, December 10, 2015

9. ESSA & Assessments: What Stays
States must administer high-quality assessments for reading/language arts and math annually in grades 3-8 and once in high school, and once in each of three grade spans for science.
ESSA requires that states assess 95% of all students and subgroups, but statue allows states flexibility in how that requirement is factored into state accountability systems.

10. ESSA & Assessments
When it comes to testing, we don’t want to restrict students’ creativity. When we provide choices and options, we provide more opportunities for students to think outside the box.

11. ESSA & Accountability
Moving from a “loose-tight” model of accountability, to a “tight-loose” model
In thinking through accountability, it will be critical to consider:
What outcomes your state values
How will the accountability system drive desired instructional practices?
How will collected and reported information be used to advance teaching and learning?

12. ESSA & School Improvement
States must identify and publicly report the following schools based on the state-determined accountability system:
Lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools;
High schools with less than a 67% graduation rate, and
Schools with underperforming subgroups that do not improve after a state-determined number of years.
States must use “evidence based” strategies to improve identified schools. School Improvement Grant (SIG) models are no longer required.

13. ESSA & Educators
Title II, Part A allows states to fund their priorities in attracting, preparing, supporting and retaining effective teachers and leaders to serve high-poverty, minority students.  
The Every Student Succeeds Act does not require specific educator evaluation measures or methods.
The law does allow, but does not require, states to use Title II funds to implement teacher evaluations

14. ESSA & Educators
ESSA authorizes new allowable federal funding for states to develop and implement:
Teacher and School Leader Academies;
Activities to support principals (new 3% Title II set-aside);
Educator training on the use of technology and data privacy;
Reform of state certification, licensure and tenure systems;
Development and implementation of teacher evaluation and support systems;
And other state educator workforce priorities.

15. Reimagining Title IIA Key considerations under ESSA:
What strategies would better attract teachers and leaders to the profession, prepare them to be ready on day one, develop them throughout their careers and retain the most effective educators?
How do these strategies, programs and policies promote equity and ensure all students have access to effective educators?
How realistic are these strategies given political constraints and changing funding levels?

16. Reimagining Title IIA Delaware Louisiana Tennessee New Mexico
New Jersey
New Mexico

17. Beyond ESSA: Supporting the Future Workforce
Attract
Prepare
Develop
Retain

18. #8. Value People: Focus on Teachers and Leaders

20. Diversifying the Teacher Pipeline
Our Goal:
We are working with states to achieve parity in demographic make-up of teachers, particularly race and ethnicity, to students in PK-12 education in a state by 2040.
State-led Action Group:
Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin are creating plans to attract, recruit and retain more diverse teachers.

21. What’s Best for Kids

22. Questions ? ? ? ? ?