ESSA

Description and Purpose

ESSA is a comprehensive federal initiative designed to continue efforts to improve our nation’s schools. The law is intended to fix many of the problems with the previous reauthorization, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). With ESSA, accountability in terms of standards, student assessments, and school improvement, as well as teacher qualifications and evaluations, is transferred from the federal government to states and local school districts.

Eligibility and Legal Requirements

ESSA prohibits the federal government from requiring or even encouraging use of any specific set of standards. ESSA must legally hold challenging academic standards, provide strong statewide assessments and accountability for results, expanded accountability for English language learners, individual state definitions of teacher effectiveness and funding for program flexibility.

Services Provided

• Qualified Teachers

• Charter and Magnet schools

• Additional support for English Language Learners to stay on track

• Yearly literacy and mathematic assessments throughout grades 3-8 and once in High School.

Roles and Responsibilities

General Education: Teachers must stay up to date on state and local teacher requirements and qualifications. Teachers must conduct multiple forms of assessments and testing to identify under performing students and develop a plan to improve performance.

Special Education: 1% of students (typically, students with the most serious cognitive disabilities) are permitted to take alternate assessments based on performance expectations that differ in complexity from typical grade-level achievement standards.

Student: Student should give their best effort when it comes to state testing and normal performance in the classroom to create a more accurate display of their cognitive abilities.

Families: Parents/Guardians/Surrogates need to encourage attendance and academic performance in their student. The corresponding guardian has the right to ensure the school is meeting their student's needs and provide feedback on how the school could do better.