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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is essential as the law mandates accountability systems and educational planning for school districts across the nation. ESSA is essential to the educational system as the results from state assessments drive instructional programs by dictating what students know and the content that they are not mastering.  The districts emphasize their attention on the growth of scores focusing on subpopulations such as special education and English language learners so that these students are also meeting state standards.  Moreover, since student subgroups are not well defined, meaning a learner’s status as a special education student fluctuates given the criteria assessed, ESSA makes assumptions for all students that are inequitable for students of special needs (Tindal & Anderson, 2019).

Federal and state law has implemented provisions to raise the accountability ratings for the districts in Texas through an agreement with the US Department of Education.  The document outlines goals for districts which thereby allows curriculum writers to create a blueprint to enhance learning and offer intervention strategies for struggling students to achieve necessary goals (Every Student Succeeds Act, n.d.). Moreover, as a curriculum specialist, I could track the previous scores of struggling students among different subpopulations and create remediation strategies to offer help before state and local assessments.  Additionally, I could offer intervention strategies to the educators in my district to also help with raising content mastery and assessment scores.

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More Than a Quarter of Schools Could Be Flagged as in Need of Improvement Under ESSA, Experts Say.

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More Than a Quarter of Schools Could Be Flagged as in Need of Improvement Under ESSA, Experts Say.

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Last December, Education Week published the government and experts will scrutinize a blog detailing the educational institutions due to their below average testing scores.  In the blog, Klein labeled the schools as Additional Targeted Schools as the institutions need additional support assisting students to meet academic goals (2018).  States and districts plan according to add resources for struggling students based upon the level of support they need.  Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) mandates that educational institutions make a plan to raise student achievement scores yet if student results do not go up within a few years, then a different plan is put into place (Klein, 2018).

Klein, A.  (2018).  More than a quarter of schools could be flagged as in need of improvement under ESSA, experts say. [online] Education Week. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2CyEADo

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Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act has been officially in place for a whole school year, states are beginning to release their lists of schools that need extra help. And there's a particular group of schools that experts are watching closely: Additional Targeted Schools.

That's a wonky term for a particular set of schools that need improvement, but it's one to watch: It could end up describing anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of schools, according to preliminary observations by the Center for Assessment, a nonprofit that works with states on testing and accountability. (Although that may be the typical range, many states will be under the 30 percent threshold, the Center said.)

This bears out in individual states, too. In California, at least a quarter of schools would qualify, according to a report compiled by the state board of education earlier this year. ( Check out page 429 of this document for more.) And a plurality of those schools would qualify because of struggling performance among students in special education.

Similarly, Louisiana found by using data from 2015 and 2016 that about 42 percent of its schools would fall into the category. Most would be identified because of poor performance of students in special education. ( Check out page 66 of the state's ESSA plan for more).

So what exactly are Additional Targeted Schools and what's required of them under ESSA? Under the law, states must flag Title I schools that are in the bottom 5 percent of performers in the state for what's called "comprehensive support and improvement." In those schools, the district is required to come up with an evidence-based plan to fix the school's problem, monitored by the state.

Additional targeted support schools are different. These are schools that might look fine-even really good-overall, but where at least one subgroup of students, such as English- language learners, students in special education, racial minorities, or poor kids, is performing as poorly as the students in the bottom 5 percent of Title I schools.

ESSA requires these schools to put a plan in place to address the issue. And, unlike other schools flagged by the law, the plan must consider types of resources students in the underperforming subgroup are getting. (For example: Do the English-language learners have the newest and least experienced teachers in the school?)

The district is supposed to monitor the plan. If a school doesn't fix the problem after a certain number of years determined by the state, it is supposed to be put into the more intensive "comprehensive improvement" bucket. ( More explanation here).

Are states and districts really going to have to go through this process with as many as half of their schools? Probably not. Most states haven't released their lists of schools flagged under ESSA just yet, but experts say many states are trying to whittle down the number of schools identified for improvement.

"Most states found ways to massage the system and make it work for them and their intended goals," said Anne Hyslop, the assistant director for policy development and governmental relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education, a research and advocacy organization.

Flagging 70 percent of schools-or more-as being in need of improvement may take the significance out of the label, and states might not have the bandwidth to help all of those schools get better, said Chris Domaleski, the associate director at the Center for Assessment.

"If everybody is failing, nobody is failing," he said. "If number goes too high it loses any meaningfulness, but if states control it too far, we're concerned that maybe information isn't as straightforward as it perhaps should be. States are trying to find that sweet spot."

For instance, some states are requiring schools to be part of yet another improvement category for ESSA-targeted improvement-before joining the more significant "additional targeted" bucket, Domaleski said. Schools flagged for targeted improvement also need to come up with a plan to fix the problem, monitored by their district.
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More Than a Quarter of Schools Could Be Flagged as in Need of Improvement Under ESSA, Experts Say

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Now that the Every Student Succeeds Act has been officially in place for a whole school year, states are beginning to release their lists of schools that need extra help. And there's a particular group of schools that experts are watching closely: Additional Targeted Schools.

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A blog published last fall in Education Week discussed a study concerning the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), federal education guidelines, and when high school graduation rates require governmental intervention (Gewertz, 2018).  When the graduation rate at secondary schools that fall below a certain level, federal law requires mediation.  However, if rates of completion remain above passing yet hover around 80%, the academic institutions are not obligated to seek help from the government and students do not acquire the necessary educational skills necessary for scholastic success (Gewertz, 2018).

Gewertz, C. (2019). Why ESSA misses hundreds of low-graduation-rate high schools. [online] Education Week - High School & Beyond. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2E6CfDD

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At nearly 500,000 students' high schools, almost half of the freshmen disappear before graduation, and federal law doesn't require those schools to get better, according to a study released Thursday.

The study aims to focus public attention on a phenomenon that has flown under the radar: high schools that have good enough graduation rates to avoid federally mandated intervention, but are able to produce those rates because so many struggling students leave.

It's timely right now, because states must start compiling their lists of schools that need "comprehensive intervention" under the Every Student Succeeds Act. At the high school level, that means any school that graduates fewer than 67 percent of its students in four years.

Researchers from two groups that have studied graduation rates for years-Civic Enterprises and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University-conducted an analysis of the country's 15,000 high schools and issued a warning: ESSA's requirements will catch many of the problem schools, but they overlook nearly 500 schools where students are nearly as likely to leave as to graduate.

That's because ESSA requires intervention in schools when their graduation rates fall below 67 percent. Schools that do better don't have to be flagged for improvement.

Good-enough graduation rates can mask serious problems, however. The new report finds 466 high schools with graduation rates averaging 81 percent, but weak "promoting power." That means the schools don't have good track records of moving students from 9th to 10th grade, and onward through high school.

Those 466 schools have promoting power of 60 percent or less, meaning that nearly half of their freshmen never make it to 12th grade, because they drop out or transfer. Those schools-which enroll nearly 461,000 students-can produce satisfactory graduation rates because they're "losing a lot of students who otherwise could be dropouts," John M. Bridgeland, the president of Civic Enterprises, said in an interview.

Low-income students and students of color bear a disproportionate share of the impact, Bridgeland said, because those 466 schools are concentrated in low-income, high-minority neighborhoods, Bridgeland said.

Another group of high schools is likely to be overlooked by ESSA's requirements as well, the report finds. They're the very large high schools with good enough graduation rates to avoid federally mandated help, but weak enough promoting power that they lose a lot of students before graduation.

There aren't many of these schools-the report identifies only 30, enrolling nearly 106,000 students-but their sheer size means they can produce a lot of non-graduates. A high school of 2,000 students and a graduation rate of 70 percent can evade ESSA's requirement for intervention. But that means that 150 students in each class aren't graduating on time.

Two other categories of low-graduation-rate schools also need attention, but they're likely to be identified by their states for comprehensive improvement since they have graduation rates of 67 percent or less: 863 traditional high schools, where students have an average 1-in-2 chance of graduating, and about 676 alternative schools.

The report's co-authors argue that the two categories of schools that enroll the largest numbers of students should be the focus of intensive improvements. Those are the 863 traditional high schools with graduation rates below 67 percent, which serve 791,000 students, and the schools with graduation rates above 67 percent but weak promoting power, which serve 461,000 students.

Despite the grim statistics, the report paints an optimistic picture of the prospects of improving those high schools. It notes that policymakers and educators have used combinations of effective tactics to improve high school graduation rates across the country, including a good, coherent curriculum, rigorous courses, and using early-warning indicators to provide support for students as soon as signs of trouble emerge.

In most schools, the study said, the average graduation rate already tops 90 percent. The problems are concentrated in the remaining schools. What's needed now, Bridgeland said, is a "second act" of high school improvement that focuses the lessons of the last decade on the schools that still need help.

Get High School & Beyond posts delivered to your inbox as soon as they're published. Sign up here. Also, follow @cgewertz for news and analysis of issues that shape adolescents' preparation for work and higher education.

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Why ESSA Misses Hundreds of Low-Graduation-Rate High Schools

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At nearly 500,000 students' high schools, almost half of the freshmen disappear before graduation, and federal law doesn't require those schools to get better, according to a study released Thursday.

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While secondary schools across the nation seek to improve learning for their students, additionally they must maintain a prescribed rate of graduation to prevent government intervention to not commit educational negligence toward those enrolled within the district.  The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) mandates that instructional institutions which fall below 70% graduation rates require federal intervention.  Moreover, if a school district remains at a certain completion rate, the district should evaluate if the students are receiving adequate services or if the educational curriculum should be adjusted to develop a higher quality academic environment.  I chose this topic after reading Catherine Gewertz's blog in Education Week as I am a curriculum writer and I teach high school seniors.  I believe students should be held accountable for their learning just as school districts should deliver a viable, quality curriculum and identifying potential risks early enough so that students can recover and succeed without becoming at-risk for failure or dropping out.

Gewertz, C. (2019). Why ESSA misses hundreds of low-graduation-rate high schools. [online] Education Week - High School & Beyond. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2E6CfDD

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Legal and Ethical Top 5 According to a High School Administrator

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Legal and Ethical Top 5 According to a High School Administrator

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I visited with Dr. Jason Skelton, principal of Lake View High School in San Angelo, Texas, regarding current legal and ethical issues he faces as a high school administrator.

#1 Educational intuitions continually battle with issues arising from the protection of their students concerning the release of personal information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974.  As an administrator, one instructs their educators of the laws involving FERPA and student confidentiality.

#2 One procedure that Lake View High School recently modified included the policy of notifying school personnel to direct outside parties with questions concerning students to Dr. Skelton before speaking with the individuals.  He will then decide if the educator or instructional personnel can visit with the outside party based on the situation.  The policy revision protects not only the private information of the students but also Lake View faculty in that if one should speak without going through the proper channels, the educator may not be protected by district attorneys should something happen.

#3 One instance involving FERPA occurred when a father came to school to pick up his children as the two parents were going through a contentious divorce.  In this instance, the school feared that the parent might flee with the children and law enforcement was contacted.  However, since there was not a judgment preventing the parent from taking the children, the school had to release the children into the custody of the parent.  When school administration called law enforcement, the district believed the children were in imminent danger; therefore, the justification to call in law enforcement was substantiated for what the district considered a bad situation.

#4 One essential job component that curriculum specialists must utilize on the job is FERPA as student right to privacy affords confidentiality of student records which includes demographics.  A district cannot release information without consent by parents to entities outside of the school such as results from assessments or grades.  Curriculum specialists could use the data to create standardized assessments to utilize in districts with similar demographics which they would not know without the release of a portion of the private information of the students.

(J. Skelton, personal communication, January 17, 2019)

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My professional perspective would be to work as a curriculum specialist for a school district.  I am planning to receive my Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Angelo State University in December 2019.  I would eventually like to follow up with my Masters in Counseling as I am planning to move to a small town and a the job prospects for a curriculum specialist are somewhat limited in smaller communities. I am currently a secondary classroom educator with 20 years of experience and a curriculum writer for San Angelo ISD.

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Texas and the Every Student Succeeds Act

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Texas and the Every Student Succeeds Act

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The attached resource outlines the plans the Texas Department of Education submitted to the U. S. Department of Education to raise academic achievement scores to align with the Every Student Succeeds Act guidelines. (Every Student Succeeds Act, n.d.).

Every Student Succeeds Act (n.d.) in Texas Education Agency. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/2FNUA80

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Changes in Status and Performance Over Time for Students With Specific Learning Disabilities

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Changes in Status and Performance Over Time for Students With Specific Learning Disabilities

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While investigating the Porter Henderson Library at Angelo State University, I found an article that examines the performance of students with disabilities in regard to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and student accountability.

Tindal, G. & Anderson, D. (2019). Changes in status and performance time for students with specific learning disabilities.  Learning Disability Quarterly, 42 (1), 3-16. doi: 10.1177/0731948718806660

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Changes in Status and Performance Over Time for Students With Specific Learning Disabilities