ED announces negotiated rulemaking on assessments and supplement not supplant
In December, the Department of Education (ED) published a request for public input on the need for regulations to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In that request, ED indicated that it was considering a process of negotiated rulemaking in the areas of student assessments and the requirement that federal Title I, Part A funds supplement not supplant non-federal funds. Last week, ED announced that after reviewing over 350 comments, it is moving forward with negotiated rulemaking, and called for negotiator nominations by February 25. ED is looking for nominees to represent 11 specified constituencies, including state and local administrators and boards of education, tribal leadership, parents and students, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, and civil rights groups.
ED plans to hold the negotiations in Washington, DC in March and April and will ask the negotiators to write draft regulations implementing ESSA Section 1111(b)(2) (assessments) and Section 1118(b) (supplement not supplant). ED's notice spells out several topics that will be addressed within these two bill sections. The listed assessment topics are ESSA rules on: locally selected nationally recognized high school assessments; the exception for advanced mathematics assessments in eighth grade; inclusion of students with disabilities in academic assessments; the inclusion of English learners in academic assessments and English language proficiency assessments; and computer-adaptive assessments. The listed supplement not supplant topics are: the methodology a local educational agency (LEA) uses to ensure compliance; and the timeline for compliance. The notice states that the topics are tentative and that new topics can be added as part of the negotiation.
ED says states can use assessment funds to audit excessive testing
ED sent a letter to chief state school officers outlining ways in which federal funds for school year (SY) 2016-2017 can be used to promote fewer and better tests, including audits of testing requirements. According to the letter, SY 2016-2017 spending in this area is governed by the rules in existence prior to passage of ESSA, so ED's guidance interprets NCLB provisions, especially Section 6111, Grants for State Assessments and Related Activities. According to ED, Section 6111 grants may be used now and in SY 2016-2017 for purposes such as:
- Audits to review which tests are given and why, and then to decide whether to continue or revise tests after the review. "For example, a State might use 6111 funds to modify an existing audit tool or template so that it could be used across districts within the State to collect information about which assessments (e.g., screening, diagnostic, formative, interim, benchmark) are given, for what purpose, how the results are used, and what, if any, action the State or districts should take as a result of this information (e.g., eliminating developmentally inappropriate, duplicative, or low-quality assessments or those without a clear use)."
- Supporting assessment literacy
- Increasing transparency and timeliness about the purpose of statewide assessment to parents and making assessment results more usable and understandable for parents and educators
- Improving the quality of assessments by ensuring assessments remain valid, reliable, and aligned with the state's challenging content and achievement standards
According to the letter, districts may also use Title II-A funds for assessment audits and to improve the quality of local assessments; Title I-A, II-A, and III funds to support the appropriate use of assessment results; and, Title I-A funds to increase transparency and timeliness of assessment purposes and uses, and to make assessment results more usable and understandable for educators and parents.
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García applauded ED's letter for supporting state, district, and school efforts to reduce unnecessary tests, including audits of existing tests, and to develop high quality and fair assessments.
Report expresses caution about state takeovers, recommends alternatives
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), jointly released a report in December finding little evidence of success for state takeover policies and recommending eight alternative strategies the report claims show research-based potential for increased student learning, better school climates, and stronger public commitment. The report, Investing in What Works: Community-Driven Strategies for Strong Public Schools in Georgia, was issued as Georgia considers a takeover proposal, the Opportunity School District (OSD), which would disproportionately target schools in low-income communities. Deriving lessons from past takeovers from which Georgia's proposal draws-Louisiana's Recovery School District, Tennessee's Achievement School District, and Michigan's Education Achievement Authority-the report cautions that the Georgia OSD could, as SEF President Kent McGuire states in a foreword to the report, "send us back to a dark past we've all worked so hard to overcome." The Georgia Association of Educators, NEA's state affiliate, embraced the report conclusions, including its positive alternative recommendations, calling for collaboration with communities, parents, students, educators and administrators to build high-quality education, instead of failed top-down strategies.
President's FY 2017 budget provides first look at proposed funding under ESSA
On February 9, 2016, President Obama released his budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2017, including his education budget. The education budget proposal, which would fund programs for the 2017-18 academic year, provides the first look at how ED would prioritize funding under ESSA. Overall, ED is seeking an increase of $1.3 billion, a modest 2 percent, across its entire budget which includes ESSA as well as special, career and technical, and higher education, among other programs. The proposed increase for programs authorized or amended under ESSA is also modest-almost $500 million, or 2 percent as well (which includes Preschool Development Grants that are jointly administered by ED and HHS but part of HHS' budget). In a statement by NEA President Lily Eskelsen García upon the budget's release, Eskelsen García noted that educators appreciate the additional investment in public education, "however, we are concerned that the budget doesn't go far enough with investments to create more opportunity for all students...especially as we shift our attention towards the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act."
The core program in addressing opportunity for all students, Title I, Part A Grants to Local Educational Agencies , is level funded compared to 2016 when also counting the funds previously directed to School Improvement Grants (SIG), which no longer continues under ESSA. Title I, Part A absorbs the funding previously directed to SIG as the set aside for school improvement activities increases from 4 to 7 percent under the new law. The newly titled Title II, Part A program, Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants, would be reduced by $100 million (-4 percent). Instead, those funds are redirected to a separate authorization for Supporting Effective Educator Development (or SEED), which was funded previously as a set aside under the Title II-A program. The funding request for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (ESEA IV-B) is $167 million (-14 percent) less than the current year, and funding for Rural Education (ESEA V-B) and Impact Aid (ESEA VII) would be level with 2016. Title III state grants for English language acquisition is one of the few state-formula allocated programs that would receive an increase under ED's budget plan-$63 million (+9 percent), along with State Assessments (ESEA I-B, sections 1201-1203), +$25 million (+7 percent), and Education for Homeless Children and Youths (ESEA IX-A), +$15 million (+21 percent). Instead, ED has chosen to provide additional funding to other ESSA programs as well as new initiatives.
For ESEA programs carried over from NCLB to ESSA, ED proposes the following funding increases:
- Charter schools grants (ESEA IV-C): +$17 million (+5 percent)
- Magnet schools assistance (ESEA IV-D): +18 million (+19 percent)
- Promise neighborhoods (ESEA IV-F-2, section 4624): +$55 million (+75 percent)
- Preschool development grants (ESEA IX-B, section 9212): +$100 million (+40 percent)
For new or reconstituted programs under ESSA, ED proposes the following funding levels:
- Teacher and school leader incentive grants (ESEA II-B-1): $250 million (an increase of $20 million, or 9 percent, compared with its antecedent program, the Teacher Incentive Fund, in 2016)
- Comprehensive literacy development grants (ESEA II-B-2, section 2222): $190 million (level with its antecedent program, Striving Readers, in 2016)
- School leader recruitment and support (ESEA II-B-4, section 2243): $30 million (an increase of $14 million, or 83 percent, compared with its antecedent program, School Leadership, in 2016)
- STEM master teacher corps (ESEA II-B-4, section 2245): $10 million
- Education innovation and research (ESEA IV-F-1): $180 million (an increase of $60 million, or 50 percent, compared with its antecedent program, Investing in Innovation, , in 2016)
- School safety national activities (ESEA IV-F-3): $90 million (an increase of $15 million, or 20 percent, compared to similar programs funded in 2016)
ED chose to fund the new state-allocated formula grant program, Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (ESEA IV-A-1) at $500 million, which is about $150 million more when compared to similar programs funded in 2016 that are no longer authorized, but is less than a third of the funding level authorized of $1.65 billion. As a result, ED also includes appropriations language in its request "permitting States to make subgrants to LEAs on a competitive basis, to set a minimum award amount of $50,000 per year for up to 3 years, and to give priority to projects supporting specific, State-selected authorized activities." Under ESSA, subgrants to LEAs are allocated by formula.
New initiatives under ED's budget request:
- Teach to lead: $10 million to provide direct support for teacher-designed, teacher-led projects using innovative strategies to improve student outcomes.
- Stronger together: $120 million to support voluntary community efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity in schools from preschool through grade 12 through competitive grants to LEAs or consortia of LEAs that have significant achievement gaps and socioeconomic segregation within or across districts.
- Next generation high schools: $80 million in competitive grants to LEAs in partnership with institutions of higher education and other entities to promote the whole-school transformation of the high school experience to provide students with challenging and relevant academic and career-related learning experiences.
- Computer science for all development grants: $100 million in competitive grants to LEAs, alone, in consortia, or in partnership, to help jump-start improving access to computer science and related STEM coursework.
ED also requests mandatory funding (funding that becomes available automatically for the duration of the program once enacted into law with no need for annual appropriations) for three initiatives: Preschool for All ($75 billion over ten years, $1.3 billion in 2017), a federal-state partnership that would enable states to provide access to high-quality preschool for all 4 year olds from low- and moderate-income families; RESPECT: Best Job in the World ($1 billion in one-time funds), to support the recruitment and retention of educators for about 200 high-need schools; and, Computer Science for All ($4 billion over three years, $2 billion in 2017), a companion program to the computer science development grants that is intended to stimulate and advance comprehensive state efforts to offer computer science, STEM, and other rigorous coursework to all students, but particularly for student groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields.
Obama highlights Computer Science for All initiative
In his weekly radio address on Saturday January 30, President Obama announced the Computer Science for All initiative. Aimed at preparing students for jobs in a global economy that is growing exponentially in technological complexity, the initiative builds upon the president's existing ConnectEd Initiative, which helps to ensure that all students have the technology infrastructure they need in schools, including next-generation broadband.
The Computer Science for All initiative calls for:
- $4 billion in mandatory funding over three years for states and $100 million in discretionary funds directly for school districts in the FY 2017 budget to expand K-12 computer science (CS) by training teachers, expanding access to high-quality instructional materials, and building effective regional partnerships.
- $135 million in computer science funding to become available starting this year from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
- Expanding access to prior NSF supported programs and professional learning communities through their CS10k initiative that led to the creation of more inclusive and accessible CS curriculum including Exploring CS and Advanced Placement (AP) CS Principles.
- Involving even more governors, mayors, and education leaders to help boost CS following the leadership of states like Delaware, Hawaii, Washington, Arkansas, and more than 30 school districts that have already begun to expand CS opportunities.
- Engaging CEOs, philanthropists, creative media, technology, and education professionals to deepen their CS commitments.
Organizations can make a commitment to expand access to CS education, and be considered for inclusion in White House announcements and events, by visiting this White House link.
Take Action
Ask Congress to provide funds for students most in need by pushing for a much larger increase in the FY 2017 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill than in FY 2016. Despite slight FY 2016 increases, funding for disadvantaged students remains 10 percent below FY 2010 levels, adjusted for inflation.
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