Will the Every Student Succeeds Act succeed?

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

For nearly 15 years, school districts have been scrutinized under federal measures known as the No Child Left Behind Act. However, earlier this month, President Barack Obama signed a bill swapping the act for another. But will Every Child Succeeds be successful?

?The law technically was reauthorized,? explains Dr. Jon Sheldahl, chief administrator of Great Prairie Area Education Agency. ?But it?s now known as Every Student Succeeds Act instead of No Child Left Behind.?

However, besides a name change, the balance of power was also shifted with the new act. ?The main theme of the updated version is most of the federal sanctions, there are still some accountability to federal standards in the new law, but how the state deals with schools is going back to being a state decision,? said Sheldahl.

Historically and constitutionally, education has been a right reserved for the state, but when No Child Left Behind was enacted, the federal government?s role increased significantly.

?Students in grades three through eight and 11, still have to be tested and we still have to make sure the kids with an IEP (individualized education program) are still learning, that all students are learning, but when it comes to schools that are failing, the state will determine what to do with them,? said Mt. Pleasant School Board member Dave Christensen.

Students in the stated grades will continue to take anannual test. Currently, students take the Iowa Assessment, but beginning in 2017, will take Iowa Smarter Balanced. However, federal funds will no longer be withheld due to a district ?not playing ball.?

?Washington D.C. bloggers think this is an opportunity to get past some of the accountability missteps that have occurred since 2001,? Christensen lamented to the board during a December board meeting. ?When we have an issue, it will be Des Moines we talk to instead of Washington.?

Christensen concluded, by saying, ?there are lots of opportunities for state leaders to lead.?

Christensen, who is the a former director of instruction for the district, said since power is coming back to the states, where education is concerned, he suspects Iowa will adopt a plan they devised when applying for a No Child Left Behind waiver, which they didn?t receive.

Sheldahl agrees with this assessment. In applying for a waiver, Iowa developed a pilot program called the Differentiated Accountability Pilot. The program is linked in a lot of ways to the school report cards, which recently came out. The report cards look at multiple measures of a school?s performance, instead of simply looking at student achievement.

?I think you?ll see Iowa continue to work in that differentiated accountability system to try to line up a new way to support schools that are struggling with student performance, and take into consideration more than just academic achievement,? he said.

The Iowa Department of Education has about 18 months, until July 1, 2017, to determine how they will set the rules up under the new law.

?One thing about No Child Left Behind is it was one-size fits all and it was really a system that, I think, was intended to try to shock some of our larger more urban systems in our country that really struggled with student performance data,? said Sheldahl. ?Everyone was treated the same. I think the states (with the new act) are going to be able to allow to differentiate how they work with different districts based on what the nature of their challenges are.?

Another difference with the Every Child Succeeds Act is education dollars will go directly to the state.

Christensen stated states will receive more money from the federal government, and then it will be up to the state to distribute the money to districts. ?That doesn?t necessarily mean Mt. Pleasant will receive more or less funds; we?ll have to wait and see what happens,? he said.

Sheldahl said although there is a lot of work to be done, he feels this is a change for the better.

?It was suppose to be reauthorized seven years ago, so I?m glad they got around to it,? he chuckled. ?There is never going to be something that is perfect for all parties when you look at all the different stakeholder groups, but it?s a heck of a lot better than it used to be.?