Turning Four This Month, the Every Student Succeeds Act Is Hailed as a Victory for State Control of Education Policy. And, Critics Say, That’s Part of the Problem

When the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed into law four years ago, it was widely praised as an example of bipartisan policymaking. It was seen as a successful balance between protecting students’ civil rights and giving states more authority over schools.

However, the initial bipartisan support has diminished over time, leaving us with an important and seemingly simple question: Is ESSA actually working? As is often the case with large-scale federal policies, the answer is not so straightforward.

Anne Hyslop, assistant director of policy development and government relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education, a group dedicated to improving outcomes for underserved students, explains that if the main priority of ESSA was to empower states, then it can be considered a success. But for those who prioritize the law’s civil rights protections, they would argue that it is not working.

Hyslop, who helped write ESSA regulations during her time at the Obama Education Department, and other education advocates have expressed concerns about how states are measuring the success of marginalized student groups such as children of color and students with disabilities. They are also worried about how this data is being used to identify schools that need improvement and how it is being shared with the public through report cards.

However, not everyone is pessimistic about the implementation of ESSA. Kristen Carr, senior program director for student expectations at the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents state education secretaries responsible for implementing ESSA plans, highlights some successes. These include stakeholder engagement beyond what is required by law, innovative report cards that provide useful data to parents, and the use of new indicators, such as chronic absenteeism and career-readiness tests, to measure school success.

While there is still much to be seen, Carr believes that states are committed to doing what is best for students. Louisiana, which has made significant progress in implementing its ESSA plan and received positive reviews from independent evaluators, is cautiously optimistic. The state superintendent of education, John White, acknowledges that it is a long-term project and that there is still work to be done. However, early signs suggest that their plans are having a positive impact. For example, struggling schools identified for comprehensive support and intervention under ESSA have shown improvement.

However, there are still challenges to overcome. Implementation has been uneven across states, as the law grants greater responsibility to local leaders. This means that some struggling schools receive more attention than others, depending on the state. While the law mandates states to identify at least the bottom 5 percent of Title I schools and underperforming high schools, the proportion of schools identified for support varies greatly from state to state.

Despite the uneven implementation, state leaders have found positive aspects of the law. White and Molly Spearman, the South Carolina state superintendent of education, have successfully streamlined federal grant applications for districts and are considering taking advantage of the innovative assessment pilot, which allows for a reduction in the number of tests students must take.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of ESSA is still a subject of debate. While some see it as a way to empower states, others are concerned about its impact on civil rights. Implementation has been mixed, with some states making progress while others struggle. The law has pushed states to improve schools in various ways, but there is still work to be done to ensure that all students receive a quality education.

According to Hyslop, sometimes comprehensive ratings only consider the overall performance of students, which means that schools performing poorly for marginalized groups are overlooked, which goes against the purpose of the law meant to protect them.

Lindsay Dworkin, the director of policy and state government relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education, mentioned that the bottom 5 percent benchmark leads to some schools receiving D or F ratings but not receiving support under ESSA. Additionally, limiting support to only the lowest-performing schools results in the majority of targeted schools being in the same cities and districts.

For example, in Maryland, out of the 43 schools identified for comprehensive support last year, 38 were in Baltimore City Schools, and the remaining five were in other districts due to low graduation rates. In Michigan, over half of the 128 schools identified for comprehensive support are in the Detroit area, including 55 public schools in Detroit and 17 mostly charter schools in Wayne County.

Dworkin, a former member of the Obama Education Department, questioned whether it is acceptable to have varying results across states in terms of accountability or if there needs to be a stronger push across all states to uphold civil rights.

In South Carolina, officials have identified around half of its schools for various interventions under ESSA, which may be too large a number to adequately support districts in their efforts to improve.

John Payne, Deputy Superintendent, stressed the importance of intentional and sustainable support for these schools to establish lasting systems.

Similar concerns have been raised since 2017 when states first submitted their plans for federal approval, and congressional Democrats have also voiced criticisms over the years.

White, the chief of Louisiana, believes that accountability systems and spending plans are crucial tools provided by Congress to states, and they must be utilized accordingly. He emphasized that districts with inadequate plans should not receive funding, nor should they receive high ratings.

The Data Quality Campaign discovered that while many states’ report cards are easily accessible and user-friendly, there are still shortcomings. For example, as of April 2019, 41 states were missing information about at least one required subgroup, with the most severe being the failure to break down results by gender. Additionally, only 15 states translated report cards into languages other than English, and even fluent speakers struggled to understand them due to the high level of language used.

Jenn Bell-Ellwanger, president and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign, acknowledged that states have made efforts to improve report cards, but there is still progress to be made in presenting a comprehensive picture of every child’s needs.

One notable aspect of ESSA is its requirement to disclose the performance of children in new categories, such as those who are homeless, in foster care, or have parents in the military. It also establishes rules to ensure that students in foster care can remain in the same school. However, advocates have found that progress in reporting and protecting these populations has been slow overall.

Many districts, including the largest one in the country, New York City, are failing to meet deadlines for reporting on the performance of children in foster care. Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office found that many states are struggling to keep students in foster care in the same school due to staff turnover and concerns about transportation costs.

According to Dworkin, it is uncertain whether the program is effective and this uncertainty is likely to persist for years. Some states have chosen to assess the progress of schools in need of assistance after three years. This delay means that the results will not be available until the 2021-22 school year, which is a full seven years after ESSA was implemented.

Dworkin stated that we currently have very limited information regarding the most critical question about ESSA: Will struggling students experience improvement? The answer to this question is still years away from being revealed.

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