Education in Contemporary America Changes in the Law

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was designed by the Obama Administration in response to many of the criticisms about excessive federal control of the nation’s school systems under the strictures of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). States are still required to have high standards, in the words of ESSA, but these standards do not have to adhere to Common Core standards, although states are free to ensure that they do so (Klein 2016). According to Education Week, while states still have to get accountability plans approved, states under ESSA have now been given considerably more flexibility in setting goals for themselves, to allow for greater differentiation in student ability on a state-by-state basis. There are still a number of specific areas that state plans are bound to address, including proficiency standards and graduation rates (Klein 2016). There must also be a plan to close the gap when there are discrepancies in any areas regarding such benchmarks.
Another similarity between ESSA and previous federal efforts to enact reforms are demands that states take active steps to take remedies to improve failing schools. The bottom 5% of state performers must be identified at least every three years and concrete interventions must be taken to address this failure (Klein 2016). States also must take action where graduation rates are below 67% and where specific groups of students have shown deficits below proficiency rates, including ESL students (Klein 2016). To determine proficiency, states are still required to test students in basic skills in reading and math in grades 3-8 and at least once in high school and to keep data on certain demographics, such as students from historically discriminated-against ethnicities, students from families living in poverty, and ESL students (Klein 2016).
Of course, a critical component of meeting the benchmarks of ESSA are teacher evaluation and support systems. With this in mind, the publication Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems: A Roadmap for Improvement (2016) was released by the Aspen Institute to address critical issues in bolstering the skills, qualification, and mentorship of teachers. The Aspen Institute claims to use principles that have proven to be successful in business to school performance, inspired by the work of the consulting group McKinsey & Company. Some recommendations include demanding that principals and evaluators are required to engage in continuing professional educational efforts and seek out certification as well as having different evaluation processes for new and more experienced teachers, to use the performance review process to foster essential skills.
The report suggests that teachers who are proven to be effective be given additional flexibility in terms of how they approach learning in their classrooms, in answer to criticism that excessive standardization has been hampering the creativity of master teachers. “Effective teachers, on the other hand, should be allowed to customize their evaluations in partnership with their principals or with teams of teachers in their schools or districts” (Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems, 2016, p.7). It also states that there should be allowances for local variations in student learning, based upon the individual nature of the school district. The plan stresses the need for teacher support, in recognition of the fact that setting higher standards is not enough; there must be a blueprint to achieve such aspirations. “Teaching is complex. Evaluations should go beyond classroom observations and test scores,” and consider the student population and the strategies and efforts used by teachers in the classroom (Teacher Evaluation and Support Systems, 2016, p.11).

References
Klein, A. (2016). The Every Student Succeeds Act: An ESSA Overview. Education Week.
Retrieved from: https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/every-student-succeeds- act/index.html
Teacher evaluation and support systems: A roadmap for improvement. (2016). The Aspen
Institute. Retrieved from: https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2016/03/Teacher_Evaluation_Support_S ystems.pdf