As stated by Daarel Burnette II, author for Education Week, the ESSA act gives states the opportunity to set heir own goals. This is a replacement for No Child Left Behind, which didn’t give states as much ability to set their own goals. For example, Michigan ranks in the bottom half of the country academically, wants to place in the top 10 in the next 10 years, according to the draft accountability plan it’s planning to submit to the U.S. Department of Education. Another example includes Maryland, which has proposed that schools cut big achievement gaps between white students and student of color in half in the next 6 years. While these are positive goals, the goals have caused problems at ESSA town hall sessions and state board meetings between accountability hawks, the people in the anti-text movement, and teachers’ unions as state leaders attempt to find a balance between rigorous and realistic short-term and long-term goals. Over all, the Department of Education has a lot of work cut out for them concerning the ESSA act.
Click here to learn more about State ESSA Plans Seek to be Ambitious but Achievable.
Abstract by Samantha Armie, senior Ball State University, elementary education
