Every Student Succeeds Act

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Who Gets the Benefits of the ESSA, and What Are Those Benefits?

The ESSA was created to help serve underserved populations of students. Some examples of underserved student types are

• Students that are poor (Young, et al., 2017).

• Students that are disabled (Young, et al., 2017).

• "Students of color" (Young, et al., 2017).

• Students who are learning English (Young, et al., 2017).

The ESSA includes nine different titles, which contain the provisions, or benefits of this act, of which many are provisions that were already mentioned within the NCLB act (Russo, 2015). In this document, there are several key provisions of this document that are stated in the titles, and they consist of

• A requirement for there to be ways to identify schools that need help, and the worst-performing 5% must get help (Russo 2015, pp. 35-36).

• Reformation of school personnel certifications (Russo, 2015, p. 36)).

• Improved assistance to English learners (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

• Special programs to help children who are either disadvantaged or disabled, as well as programs to help support kids classified as gifted and talented (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

• The transfer of money to educational agencies at both the local and state levels (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

• Grants given for serving Indians, as well as natives of Alaska and Hawaii (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

• The offering of "Impact Aid," (Russo, 2015, p. 37) to certain kids, like those who have parents in the military (Russo, p. 37).

• The definition of a "well-rounded education," (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

• Other laws, such as creating programs of preschool (Russo, 2015, p. 37).

How do teachers determine accountability under the ESSA, and What are Its Requirements?

Under the policies of the ESSA, it is required that schools are to be held accountable for the students’ amount of success, which requires a plan that can identify schools that are falling (Lee, n.d.). One part of these plans are standardized testing, which is mandated by the federal government, which was actually started during the NCLB act, in 2002 (Close, et al., 2018). . When the requirement was started, it stated that there needed to be a test that measured math and reading skills, and it needed to be done once a year all the way from 3rd grade to 8th grade, and just one time in high school, which incorporated science later on (Close, et al., 2018). This plan is required to be made up of five different academic indicators, of which four are mandatory (Lee, n.d.). The mandatory ones consist of academic progress, academic achievement, proficiency in English, and the rate of graduation from high school (Lee, n.d.). The fifth and final one is able to be freely chosen by the state, and may include readiness for college and kindergarten, frequency of discipline, etc., and states can select one or more of these factors (Lee, n.d.). Another important factor is the amount of students that participate on tests given by the state, however, this is just a standalone factor, and does not count as its own indicator, which is separate from the others (Plans, 2015).

This act also makes teachers to fulfill the requirement of identifying any schools that are struggling, and once such a school is identified, both the state and districts of the school need to devise ways to get the school back on the right path, which must include approaches and ways of teaching that are based on evidence (Lee, n.d.). It also requires schools and governments at both the state and local levels to establish a public form of information on how students are served at schools, and how schools themselves are performing (Lee, n.d.). This information takes the form of something called a report card, which gives a physical representation of how good or bad schools are at serving different students, including subgroups of students, which include the tradtionally underserved students mentioned earlier in the text (Lee, n.d.). If it is shown that a subgroup or school struggles, then parents must be notified (Lee, n.d.). These cards contain the reports of test results, rates of graduation from high school, the amount of qualification teachers have, and information about how the school recieves funding, among other stuff (Lee, n.d.).

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Reflection & Conclusion

In conclusion, this lesson reveals the fine print and little-known to the public information regarding the ESSA, which may not be clear to everyone. It is clear that this was a crucial reauthorization, due to the amount of criticism that the NCLB act created, due to the fact that people thought that there was too much “federal overreach” (Russo, 2015, p. 35). One thing educators should focus on is improving accountability indicators, like tests, so that they would be more effective . Another important thing to focus on would be the leadership of educational professionals, and that it is clear that the ESSA is a step in the right direction (Young, et al., 2017). In my opinion, I think that this was the right step for education, as I am a big supporter of giving all students a chance to succeed, which is clearly what the ESSA wants to happen.

Questions:

1. How many different titles are there in the ESSA?

A. 3

B. 6

C. 9

D. 12

2. How has the ESSA fixed the problems of the NCLB act?

A. Lessened the power of the state, while giving more power to federal governments.

B. Lessened the amount of federal control, and gave some of that control to the states.

C. Made the previous regulations even more strict.

D. Replaced all of the titles in the NCLB act with their own.