For Equity-Oriented State Leaders: 9 Ideas for Stimulating School Improvement Under ESSA

New York

EdTrust–New York is a statewide education policy and advocacy organization focused first and foremost on doing right by New York’s children. Although many organizations speak up for the adults employed by schools and colleges, we advocate for students, especially those whose needs and potential are often overlooked.

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EdTrust–West is committed to dismantling the racial and economic barriers embedded in the California education system. Through our research and advocacy, EdTrust-West engages diverse communities dedicated to education equity and justice and increases political and public will to build an education system where students of color and multilingual learners, especially those experiencing poverty, will thrive.

Massachusetts

The Education Trust team in Massachusetts convenes and supports the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership (MEEP), a collective effort of more than 20 social justice, civil rights and education organizations from across the Commonwealth working together to promote educational equity for historically underserved students in our state’s schools.

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For Equity-Oriented State Leaders: 9 Ideas for Stimulating School Improvement Under ESSA

s state education leaders redesign their school accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), there’s been a…

March 21, 2017 by Allison Rose Socol, Ph.D., Craig D. Jerald, Kati Haycock

As state education leaders redesign their school accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), there’s been a lot of attention to the fundamentals of school ratings. That’s a good thing: In education, as in almost everything else, what’s measured ends up mattering. And rating systems that are careful about prioritizing the most important things for students and their futures — and that make sure that the performance of vulnerable groups of children isn’t swamped by schoolwide averages — are helpful in creating the urgency necessary to fuel improvement efforts.

But ratings are only part of the story. States have an obligation to prompt improvement in schools that, according to the ratings, are not making progress for all students or for a group of students. And while ESSA grants states latitude on school improvement, some features of the law (as well as current practice) are leading to severely truncated thinking, both about the breadth of gains needed to assure that all children are prepared for post-high school success and about the needed features (beyond school ratings) of an improvement system that will produce those gains.

We’ve compiled nine important ideas worth considering.

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For Equity-Oriented State Leaders: 9 Ideas for Stimulating School Improvement Under ESSA

For Equity-Oriented State Leaders: 9 Ideas for Stimulating School Improvement Under ESSA

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