From NCLB to ESSA

This week, Congress will vote on a bill that reforms the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) signed in 2002 by President George W. Bush. The new law, termed "ESSA" (Every Student Succeeds Act), seeks to remove much of the federal accountability measures instituted under NCLB and reassign that control back to the individual states.

If you are interested in reading the full bill, it can be found here.

If, however, you don't have time to read through the 1067 pages (yes, that's right--one thousand and sixty-seven pages of legal jargon and confusion), here are the key items:

ESSA will:

• Remove the majority of federal accountability measures and re-designate that authority back to the states.

• Allow individual states to create their own formulas to determine "adequate yearly progress" as long as their own systems continue to focus on the bottom 5% of struggling schools.

• Leave spending of federal funding to the discretion of individual states (although the federal government still emphasizes that states direct funding to the lover 5% of schools and towards closing the achievement gap).

For full overview and analysis of the law, check out the following NPR article and recent roundtable discussion on Public Radio International's To the Point radio program.

House Set To Vote On Education Overhaul
Congress Set to Pass Bipartisan Education Reform - To the Point - KCRW

Questions for Consideration and Discussion:

• How will these proposed changes impact the most needy students across the country?

• Are state governments best suited to create accountability goals and measures that promote an end to educational inequity?

• What role (if any) should the federal government play in educational accountability measures.