The Every Student Succeeds Act

WELCOME Instructional Leadership Breakout

NEA Staff

Tim Barchak

NEA Educator Support Professional Quality Department (ESPQ)

Melissa Mayville

NEA Education Policy and Practice Department (EPP)

Ann Nutter Coffman

NEA Teacher Quality Department (TQ)

Guest Speakers

Doreen McGuire-Grigg

2016 NEA ESP of the Year

Phyllis Robinette

TLI Completer and TLI State Coach

COMPETENCY: Leading Our Professions

• Competency progression level(s). Level 2: Mobilizing & Power Building and Level 3: Agenda Driving

• Competency themes

– Build capacity for continual improvement and learning (CT1)

– Shows educational leadership and understands union’s role in student learning and leading our professions (CT2)

ESSA Implementation = Opportunity

After nearly 14 years of asking for less federal intrusion into the teaching and learning process, it is finally here!

– Opportunity for educators to collaboratively drive teaching and learning decisions to benefit students

– Opportunity to strengthen partnerships with parents and communities to advocate for what students really need

Every Student Succeeds Act

What NCLB-era policies are gone? –AYP is gone! No more 100-ways-to-fail! – Federal punitive labels for schools are gone! – Rigid, non-research based interventions are

gone! –No more Race to the Top, federally required

teacher evaluations, based on standardized test scores!

–Accountability systems based solely on standardized tests are gone!

So What’s Next? Hand off coming to states and locals…

Educator Voice: Specific mention of teachers, paraeducators and other ESPs, specialized instructional support personnel, media specialists, librarians in decision making

Huge Opportunities to have a seat at the table & influence multiple decisions, such as:

• Components of state accountability plans (How much should tests count? What school or student supports should be included?)

• Opportunity for local assessment pilot

• What tests should be eliminated?

• Participation on committee of practitioners

• How should needs assessments of schools be done?

• How should interventions be designed and by whom?

• and the list goes on……

ESSA Title Cheat Sheet Title I – Students

Title II – Educators

Title III – English Language Learners

Title IV – School Improvement

Title V – State and Local Flexibility

Title VI – Indian, Native American, and Alaska American programs

Title VII – Impact Aid

Title VIII – Random Provisions

Title IX – Homeless and Misc.

Title I: Improving State and Local Education Plans

Where in Title I are there opportunities for you demonstrate your instructional leadership? How can you ready and position yourself and your colleagues to take advantage of these opportunities?

What concepts remain in new law?

High Standards: Every state must have college and career ready standards

Statewide Assessments: Maintains testing in grades 3 – 8, once in HS for math and ELA, grade span for science…. BUT

– Promotes state and local audits to eliminate duplicative or unnecessary tests

– New option for HS assessments

– New flexibility to create assessment systems that don’t rely on statewide standardized tests

Disaggregation: States still required to look at data from subgroups, so groups of students don’t fall through cracks

Interventions: Required for low-performing schools, but no rigid federally prescribed list; must be evidence-based

Every Student Succeeds Act

What’s different about accountability? State accountability can’t be based solely on tests!

Systems must include:

i. Math & Reading assessments

ii. Another statewide indicator for middle and elementary schools

iii. Graduation rates

iv. English Language Proficiency

v. Not less than one indicator of school quality or student success (i.e., from NEA Opportunity Dashboard!)

*95% participation rate remains, but states now decide impact

aggregate of #i - #iv must count for ‘much greater weight’ than #v

What about school improvement? States will have to create a system to identify 2 types of schools:

– Subgroup schools – identify schools that have consistently underperforming subgroups

• Differentiation based on all indicators

• Districts create the school improvement plan – must make progress in district-defined # of years

– Lowest performing schools – identify bottom 5% of Title I schools, add high schools with lower than 67% grad rates and lowest subgroup schools

• Must do a resource equity plan, district develops improvement plan

• Improve within 4 years or state needs to do more

State Level

Your state affiliate will be seeking to clarify its official position on Title I decision points, including:

• Student learning standards

• Learning goals, and the student assessments that will measure them

• Opportunity indicators and how they will be used

• State Assessment Pilot

• Target limits for time spent testing

Local Level

Don’t wait until the state and local education plans are finalized.

Be proactive!

1. Advocate

2. Identify and train leader and member advocates

3. Identify members to serve on the school-level committees for underperforming schools

Educator Career Continuum

PRESERVICE EDUCATOR

PERFORMING EDUCATOR

TRANSFORMING EDUCATOR

EMERGING EDUCATOR

Title II: Educators!

Title II: Competitive Grants

• Teacher and Leader Incentive Program – Performance-based

compensation programs

• Literacy for All – Comprehensive literacy

programs including support for school libraries

• Alternative Preparation Programs for Teachers • Support for American History and Civics Education • STEM Master Teacher Corps

• support STEM teacher professional development programs

Title II: Novice/Professional/Teacher Leader

Allowable Uses: – Increase Alternative Preparation

Programs

– Induction and Mentoring

– Professional Development (including paraprofessionals)

– Recruitment and Retention Policies

– “Teacher Advancement Initiatives” - Teacher Leadership

Title II: Teacher Evaluation – No longer required to set up teacher evaluation systems based in

“significant” part on student test scores.

– States may redesign evaluation and support systems which include multiple measures

– May include student growth

– Must use high-quality tools and methods – classroom observation rubrics and training auditing for inter-rater reliability

– Develop and provide training on how to differentiate performance, provide timely feedback, and use results to inform PD, improvement strategies, and personnel decisions

– Develop a system to audit the quality of evaluation and support systems

Title II: Preservice Teacher

• Teacher, Principal, and School Leader Preparation Academies (Allowable Use)

• Allows public, nonprofit, or higher education organizations to create institutions that confer certifications that equal a master’s degree for hiring purposes

• Do not have to : – Have faculty with advanced degrees – Conduct research – A physical infrastructure – Credit requirements – Any accreditation

State Level Your state affiliate will be seeking to clarify its official position on Title II decision points, including:

• Appropriate uses of Title II grant funds, and what state-provided technical supports should be given to districts that apply for them

• Components of teacher and principal certification and licensing systems

• Components of any educator evaluation system (and their relative weight)

• Acceptable strategies to improve equitable distribution of personnel (e.g. position on incentive policies, transfer provisions, etc.)

Local Level

Ensure that you are represented in any

district-level and school-level

ESSA implementation partnerships!

Importance of Partnerships Both state and local affiliates will benefit from building and strengthening relationships with other stakeholder groups (e.g., parents, community organizations, etc.).

Consider:

- Joint statements or resolutions outlining points of agreement about stakeholder voice in education decision-making, increased time for learning, and ensuring equal opportunity for all students.

- Offering to educate other stakeholder groups about their important role in ESSA implementation.

How Can I Help?

1. Keep yourself informed, and help inform others.

2. Get yourself on a committee!

3. Help be a listener, so that we truly speak with collective voice.

The Every Student Succeeds Act

OPPORTUNITY AWAITS! FIND OUT MORE:

www.nea.org/ESSAbegins