Commentary
ESSA
How states can avoid proficiency rates when measuring academic achievement under ESSA
By Brandon L. Wright
ESSA
Commentary
Podcast
ESSA
State ESSA plans: Just BS, or reform's BFF?
On this week's podcast, special guest Chad Aldeman, a principal at Bellwether Education Partners, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss his organization’s recent review of state ESSA plans. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines the progress of the high school sophomore class of 2002.
Commentary
ESSA
Three ways to improve Ohio’s ESSA plan
In early June, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released an updated draft of its ESSA plan for public comment. The department had initially intended to submit its plan earlier this spring, but after heavy pressure, state officials decided to delay submission until September.
Commentary
ESSA
Ohio shouldn’t worry about Delaware’s ESSA plan woes—yet
Early last week, the Trump administration gave three states feedback on their submitted plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Podcast
ESSA
State ESSA plans: More than just pretty words?
On this week's podcast, special guest Chris Minnich, Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, joins Mike Petrilli and Alyssa Schwenk to discuss the seventeen ESSA plans that have been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, and what the other thirty-four states can learn from them. During the Research Minute, Amber Northern examines Kentucky’s promising approach to school improvement.
Commentary
Commentary
ESSA
Early ESSA plans don't do enough to signal that all students are important
By Brandon L. Wright
Commentary
Commentary
Report
ESSA, Charter Schools, Governance
Leveraging ESSA to Support Quality-School Growth
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal School Improvement Grants program is gone, but the goal of school improvement remains. States must now use seven percent of their Title I allocation for these efforts, but are no longer constrained by a prescribed menu of intervention options.
Commentary
ESSA
Casting the net too wide: Ohio’s ESSA plans could place most districts in support status
Ohio’s draft plan for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) came out earlier this month, and we at Fordham continue to
Commentary
ESSA
Ohio’s ESSA plan: The Prepared for Success component
In early February, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released the first draft of its state plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Commentary
ESSA
Trump and Congress will repeal Obama's ESSA rules: Why that matters and what should follow
By Brandon L. Wright
Commentary
ESSA
Ohio’s ESSA plan: Identifying low-performing schools
One of the hallmarks of school accountability is the identification of and intervention in persistently low-preforming schools.
Commentary
ESSA
Fordham Institute statement on 2017 Quality Counts ratings
Today Education Week released its annual Quality Counts report card for states. Ohio earned a C with an overall score of 74.2, aligning the Buckeye State for the second year in a row with national U.S. average (also 74.2).
Commentary
Commentary
ESSA
A third way for Ohio teacher evaluations
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has put the future of teacher evaluations firmly in the hands of states. Ohio is now in full control of deciding how to develop and best implement its nascent system.
Report
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Advanced Education
High Stakes for High Schoolers: State Accountability in the Age of ESSA (Part II)
Eleven weeks ago, in High Stakes for High Achievers: State Accountability in the Age of ESSA, the Fordham Institute reported that current K–8 accountability systems in most states give teachers scant reason to attend to the learning of high-achieving youngsters.
Commentary
Charter Schools, ESSA
What charter school authorizers can teach states on ESSA: It's hard to find indicators of school quality that aren’t test scores
By Kathryn Mullen Upton
Commentary
Commentary
ESSA
Ohio's accountability system is the best in the country for high achievers. Here are 3 ways to keep that focus
Last week, several of my Fordham colleagues published a fantastic fifty-state review of accountability systems and how they impact high achievers. Lamentably, they found that most states do almost nothing to hold schools accountable for the progress of their most able pupils.
Commentary
ESSA
Cultivating America's future leaders
During the No Child Left Behind era of education reform, now winding down, teachers, schools and districts were tacitly encouraged to focus their efforts on raising the floor rather than raising the roof on student achievement. Whether by accident, choice or neglect, high-achievers as well as those merely "above proficient" received little attention. And why should they?
Report
Accountability & Testing, ESSA, Advanced Education
High Stakes for High Achievers: State Accountability in the Age of ESSA (Part I)
No Child Left Behind meant well, but it had a pernicious flaw: It created strong incentives for schools to focus all their energy on helping low-performing students get over a modest “proficiency” bar. Meanwhile, it ignored the educational needs of high achievers, who were likely to pass state reading and math tests regardless of what happened in the classroom.
Commentary
Commentary
ESSA
California goes over the rainbow: An accountability farce
No, I’m not referring to the Golden State’s rich palette of ethnic and other minority (and majority) groups, nor to its desire that they’ll live, work, and go to school in harmony, like Monet’s Water Lilies or Matisse’s Fauve masterpieces.
Commentary
ESSA
Help shape educational accountability in Ohio
You're invited to join in the conversation and contribute to Ohio’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan.
Commentary
ESSA
Is the new federal testing pilot worth the work?
Many education stakeholders see the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as an opportunity to fix the most problematic provisions in NCLB. For many critics, the biggest bogeyman was too much standardized testing and its associated accountability measures.
Commentary
ESSA
Two changes to the Department of Education's ESSA implementation rule
Editor's note: This post reproduces a letter sent to Secretary of Education John King on July 29. Dear Mr. Secretary:
Commentary
ESSA
Testing flexibility under ESSA: A primer on the pros and cons
The new education law of the land—the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)—has been the talk of the town since President Obama signed it into law in December 2015.
