Seattle Schools Community Forum

I've been saving up articles on ESSA (Every Child Succeeds Act, the next No Child Left Behind).   Congress may have given more power back to the states but there appear to be some truly troubling issues around increased data collection, opting out, and what "indicators" they will be collecting on each and every child.

Update:  there was also a measure that would simply allow parents to opt-out of testing (as opposed to the amendment that did pass that notifies parents whether their state allows opt-outs).  It was defeated, seemingly on the premise that local control over opting out should be left to states.  Both Senators Murray and Cantwell voted no on the measure.  It is legal in Washington State to opt out. End of update. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the revamped NCLB/ECAA: The U.S. Senate passed an amendment by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to the “Every Child Achieves Act” that aims to inform parents about opting out of standardized testing. Isakson’s amendment, which was passed by a unanimous vote Tuesday, would require any local educational agency that receives federal Title I funds to notify parents of each student attending school that they may request information regarding any state or local policy, procedure, or parental right regarding p...

One of the big complaints about NCLB was that it gave the federal government a much larger role in public education beyond mere oversight and reporting.  It gave them a very big stick to use on districts and states.  (Bringing in RTtT was more the carrot but I'll bet it felt very much like a stick sometimes to states who got those funds.) This federal Big Brother idea made people on the right AND on the left unhappy. That's quite the trick for one law. The one usefulness of NCLB was that it forced districts to account for every - single - student.  As they should.  But trying to fit all these students - ELL, Sped, homeless - into the same testing box with everyone else was never going to work.

From Senator Patty Murray's office: TOMORROW - Floor Debate Begins on Sen. Murray’s  Bill to Fix “No Child Left Behind”

From the Network for Public Education (NPE): No Child Left Behind should have been reauthorized in 2007, yet here we are 5 months into 2015 and Congress has failed to act. The  Every Child Achieves Act of 2015 is the latest reauthorization effort. While the bill passed the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee unanimously, it has not yet been brought to the Senate Floor for a full discussion and vote. The proposed legislation does away with some of the most destructive aspects of NCLB, such as AYP, and as NPE President Diane Ravitch commented, it " defangs the U.S. Department of Education " by taking away the Secretary of Education's ability to coerce states into adopting specific standards, tests, or accountability schemes. One major flaw with the legislation however is that the Every Child Achieves Act maintains the federal mandate for annual testing .  Act now to let your Senator know you ...