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7/12/2016 ESSA Law Broadens Definition of School Success - Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/01/06/essa-law-broadens-definition-of-school-success.html 1/4
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Inside ESSA
Under ESSA, States, Districts to
Share More Power
ESSA Regulatory Machinery Starting
to Crank Up
Funding Flexibility Enhanced Under
New K12 Law
ESSA Loosens Reins on Teacher
Evaluations, Qualifications
ESSA Law Broadens Definition of
School Success
Military Career Testing Could Get
ESSA Boost
ESSA Spotlights Strategy to Reach
Diverse Learners
View the Full Report
Published Online: January 5, 2016
Published in Print: January 6, 2016, as New Law Widens Lens To Gauge School Success
ESSA Law Broadens Definition of School SuccessBy Evie Blad
A portion of the Every Student Succeeds Act that requires states
to incorporate nonacademic factors into their accountability
systems could help promote a broader vision of school success
that extends beyond traditional measures, such as standardized
test scores, educators and policy watchers say.
The newest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, signed into law last month, requires states to use at least one
such indicator—like measures of student engagement or access to
advanced coursework—in tracking schools' success.
If states select the right indicators and the right methods of
measuring and tracking them, the changes could provide schools with a more nuanced
view of student success and equity, supporters said.
"Since we know that what gets measured gets delivered, … if we broaden accountability
systems beyond test scores and schools are required to look at these other things, then
the public and parents will start looking at them, and there's a better chance that schools
will start providing these kinds of things," said Megan Wolfe, advocacy manager for ASCD,
an organization that has pushed for socalled "multimetric accountability."
But as states put a largely untested policy idea into
practice on such a large scale, implementation is
everything. If states select indicators that can't be
accurately measured or influenced by schools, or if
they fail to provide schools with the resources they
need to carry out new mandates, the indicator
requirement could lead to unintended consequences
or pushback from educators, K12 groups and
researchers have warned.
And educator groups said there's a potential land
rush building behind the scenes among advocacy
groups that are eager to help reshape educational
accountability in their image.
'Meaningful Differentiation'
Specifically, the new law requires states to use at least one "indicator of school quality or
student success" that "allows for meaningful differentiation in school performance" and "is
valid, reliable, comparable, and statewide," alongside academic data in their
accountability systems. Schools must also be able to disaggregate data related to that
indicator to show how it affects students in different subpopulations: those from all racial
and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, children from lowincome families, and
Englishlanguage learners.
The law lists a few examples of possible indicators that states may consider—student
engagement, educator engagement, student access to and completion of advanced
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7/12/2016 ESSA Law Broadens Definition of School Success - Education Week
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coursework, postsecondary readiness, and school climate and safety—but it also leaves
the door open to other indicators of each state's choice.
Some states and districts already track those sorts of nonacademic factors on "data
dashboards" used to improve school quality, but they are rarely tied to accountability
systems that could potentially penalize schools that don't perform well.
That's in part because many of those factors are difficult to measure in a reliable and
objective manner.
For example, teachers and administrators may disagree on what factors schools should
consider when gauging postsecondary readiness. It may be difficult to disaggregate some
factors, like school safety and teacher engagement, by student subpopulation. And
surveys that measure such factors as student engagement could be "faked" if teachers
coach students on their responses, researchers warn, adding that attaching such
measures to highstakes accountability only increases the likelihood of manipulation.
"The basic principle is that the minute an indicator has a stake applied to it, it becomes a
problematic indicator," said David Osher, a vice president of the American Institutes for
Research, who studies socialemotional learning and school climate issues.
Quality of Measurement
Concerns about quality of measurement are particularly relevant if states consider
incorporating factors like students' noncognitive traits and socialemotional skills
into their school quality scales. Researchers like Angela Duckworth, a University of
Pennsylvania psychology professor who popularized the idea of "grit," have warned that
existing measures of such factors are prone to flaws and biases and that they should not
be used for highstakes accountability.
Osher said he's more confident in measures of factors like school climate because, when
asking students whether they feel safe, supported, and challenged at school, their
perception is reality. In socialemotional learning, on the other hand, student surveys may
be less reliable because students may have inaccurate perceptions about their own skills,
he said.
Osher helped districts including Chicago, then under the direction of former U.S.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Cleveland develop "conditions for learning"
surveys that track those conditions in schools, though the districts haven't used them for
accountability.
Whatever measures states use, they should be mindful that it takes time for schools to
change learning environments and to devise strategies to nurture students' relational and
personal skills, Osher said. Accountability systems that are too punitive will encourage a
condition of "churn," in which schools quickly abandon strategies and programs before
they have the chance to take root, he said.
"I think the important thing is: How do we help people do this well in a way that produces
the types of experiences for students in classrooms and in schools that enhances their
learning and development?" Osher said.
Even those who are enthusiastic about the new law acknowledge that some possible
"other indicators" are easier to measure accurately than others.
Members of AASA, the School Superintendents Association, are interested in many of the
factors tracked by California's CORE districts, a group of districts that developed a
multimetric accountability system that includes discipline data, socialemotional
surveys, and school climate measures, said Noelle Ellerson, the AASA's associate
executive director.
But not all indicators are created equal, and the success of states' new accountability
systems will depend on what they choose, Ellerson said in a forum at the Thomas B.
Fordham Institute last month.
Avoiding Unintended Consequences
State school chiefs are in the initial phases of reviewing the nonacademic data they
already collect and monitoring how the U.S. Department of Education drafts regulations
under the new law as they determine how to broaden their accountability systems, said
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Kirsten Taylor Carr, the program director for accountability at the Council of Chief State
School Officers. Then they will likely explore a number of indicators, deciding which can
provide a better view of how different student groups are faring in their schools, she said.
"The underlying goal is ensuring equity," Carr said. "No matter what the measure is, we'll
always be thinking about does this help us achieve that goal of equity."
ASCD has stopped short of saying which nonacademic indicators it recommends. It has
convened an advisory group of assessment and accountability experts, state
decisionmakers, local practitioners, and national organizations to make recommendations,
David Griffith, the senior director of government relations, said.
Frustrations with the way the No Child Left Behind law, the previous version of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, measured school success are "very instructive
here," Griffith said.
"We are even more so, very on guard as to creating unintended consequences," he said.
"And there's good data being collected, but when you start to attach consequences to it,
that can change the reporting of it."
For example, schools could skew data on attendance by tracking it at days and times
when more students are typically in school, or they could make it look as if they've
lowered discipline rates by replacing formal suspensions with more informal classroom
removals that wouldn't be tracked.
Still others have worried that attaching stakes to high suspension rates will cause some
schools to ignore poor behavior they would otherwise discipline, creating a distraction
filled learning environment for other students.
But that cautious tone hasn't dampened the
enthusiasm of "whole child" advocates
who've been pushing for more expansive
data collection and tracking for years.
Hours after the Every Student Succeeds Act
was signed into law, the Dignity in Schools
Campaign, a coalition of civil rights and
student groups, issued a press release urging
states to select school climate and safety as their "other indicator" under the law.
Coverage of learning mindsets and skills is supported in part by a grant from the RaikesFoundation. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of thiscoverage.
Vol. 35, Issue 15, Page 15
RELATED STORIES
“What Do Students Need to Succeed? Guide Helps Educators Navigate the Research,” (Rules forEngagement) June 23, 2015.
“'Nation's Report Card' to Gather Data on Grit, Mindset,” June 3, 2015.“More Than Half of Students 'Engaged' in School, Says Poll,” April 9, 2014.“New Reports Grade Schools on Reading, Writing, and Recess,” September 10, 2014.
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1 comment Sort by: Oldest to Newest
Score: 1dbrown@americaspublicschools.com
12:08 PM on January 12, 2016
Nothing is more powerful than collec�ng the thoughts of
students‐‐especially in middle level and high schools. Plus,
school districts can create their own surveys with the
assistance of local qualita�ve researchers‐‐for free! Let's not
make these opinions that schools collect be another costly
Report Abuse
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measure that local taxpayers provide to another tes�ng
company. As a researcher, I always follow the simple dictate of
collec�ng data: "Keep it simple, stupid."
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