Legislator says new education law gives schools more flexibility

Although its implementation in Missouri is still many months away, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act is top of mind for at least one area legislator.

State Rep. Kathy Swan of Cape Girardeau, chairwoman of the body's Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, is looking forward to what the law will do on the local level.

"This gives us much more flexibility," she said.

Signed into law Dec. 10, the Every Student Succeeds Act is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It replaces No Child Left Behind, which became law in 2002 and was scheduled for revision in 2007.

No Child Left Behind's one-size-fits-all mandates gradually became unworkable for schools and educators, according to information from the U.S. Department of Education, and the Every Student Succeeds Act is the result of efforts to revamp it.

"We knew that (a revision) needed to be done, and (Every Student Succeeds Act) was an opportunity to change (No Child Left Behind) significantly," Swan said.

The biggest change is in student testing. States will have a greater say in how students' progress is measured and, ultimately, how schools are accredited.

"The state can determine what it thinks is important and not important," she said.

With No Child Left Behind, a heavy emphasis on standardized testing was supposed to achieve equality among students.

Instead, critics of the law have said it placed teachers and schools in a stranglehold that did little to help improve grades or accurately measure student progress.

Until Every Student Succeeds is implemented, it is difficult to say what it will look like in Missouri.

"A lot of it is unknown at this point," Swan said.

Information recently presented to the Missouri House's Elementary and Secondary Education and Emerging Issues in Education committees said the state education agency will be required to adopt academic achievement standards for math, reading/language arts and science. Assessments will take place in grades three through eight and again in high school.

Accountability standards will be developed based on proficiency scores from the state assessments, as well as high-school graduation rates and English-language proficiency. The state also will have to continue publishing annual state report cards.

Meanwhile, teacher credentialing can remain as is.

The timeline for implementing these rules is the 2017-2018 school year, according to the committee presentation.

While nothing is too specific yet, Swan said she is confident the Every Student Succeeds Act will be an improvement because of the greater degree of local control schools will have in educating students.

The first step in the process will be a rule-making phase overseen by the U.S. Department of Education. After that, Congress will review the proposed rules and make any changes. The last step will be a public comment period before rules' final publication.

"I can see us getting very, very involved in the implementation in the coming months," Swan said.

To learn more, visit ed.gov/essa.

ljones@semissourian.com

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