Natasha Ushomirsky · 2016-10-03 · Education Act, originally passed in 1965. • It replaces the...
Transcript of Natasha Ushomirsky · 2016-10-03 · Education Act, originally passed in 1965. • It replaces the...
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Copyright 2015 The Education Trust
Natasha Ushomirsky
September 9,
2016
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
About Ed Trust
Who We Are What We do
The Education Trust works for the
high academic achievement of all
students at all levels, pre-
kindergarten through college, and
forever closing the gaps in
opportunity and achievement that
separate low-income students and
students of color from other youth.
Research and policy analysis on patterns
and practices that both cause and can
eliminate these inequities.
Advocacy to share that knowledge and
push for policies and practices that help to
close gaps.
Technical assistance to states, districts,
institutions of higher education and
community-based organizations.
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Goals for our time together
Set the national context with data on achievement and attainment
for low-income students and students of color
Share key provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act that
advocates and legislators can use to fight for a more equitable
education system
Highlight key questions to ask as your state works to comply with
the new law
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Let’s start with some good news.
After more than a decade of fairly flat achievement and stagnant or growing gaps in K-12, we appear to be turning
the corner with our elementary students.
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source:
Since 1999, large gains for all groups of students,
especially students of color
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9 Year Olds – NAEP Reading
African American Latino White
National Center for Education Statistics, “The Nation's Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012”
*Denotes previous assessment format
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Middle grades are up, too.
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Source:
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Math: More improvement and gap narrowing.
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NAEP Data Explorer, NCES (Proficient Scale Score = 299)
*Accommodations not permitted
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These national trends are the result of the hard work
and success of states, districts, and especially
schools…
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source: California Department of Education
Laurel Street ElementaryCompton, CA
• 497 students in grades K-5
• 78% Latino
• 16% African American
• 87% Low Income
• 61% English Learners
Note: Enrollment data are for 2011-12 school year.
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2015 THE EDUCATION TRUST
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Laurel Street California
Source: California Department of Education
Note: Base API incorporates student performance in English language arts, math, and science. The index ranges from 0-1000, with 800 serving as the statewide benchmark. California Base API includes Grades 2-6.
Improvement Over Time
at Laurel Street Elementary
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2015 THE EDUCATION TRUST
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Latino Students Low-IncomeStudents
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Academic Performance Index
Laurel Street California
Source: California Department of Education
All Groups Outperforming the State
at Laurel Street Elementary
Note: Base API incorporates student performance in English language arts, math, and science. The index ranges from 0-1000, with 800 serving as the statewide benchmark. California Base API includes Grades 2-6.
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Halle Hewetson Elementary SchoolLas Vegas, NV
• 962 students in grades PK – 5
– 85% Latino
– 7% African American
• 100% Low Income
• 71% English Learners
Source: Nevada Department of Education
Note: Data are for 2010-2011 school year
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source: Nevada Department of Education
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78%
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Hewetson
Nevada
Big Improvement
at Halle Hewetson Elementary
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source: Nevada Department of Education
91%95%
91%95%
69%63% 61% 61%
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Grade 3 Math (2011)
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High Performance Across Groups
at Halle Hewetson Elementary
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But despite these gains, we’ve still far from where we
need to be, especially for our low-income students and
students of color.
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source:
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Students Overall - National Public
Proficient/Advanced
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Below Basic
National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/
2015 NAEP Grade 4 Reading
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Source:
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33%33%
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Proficient/Advanced
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2015 NAEP Grade 4 Reading
National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source:
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
30%
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2015 NAEP Grade 8 Math
National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source:
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69%
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English Language Learner Non-English Language Learner
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Proficient/Advanced
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Below Basic
2015 NAEP Grade 8 Math
National Center for Education Statistics, NAEP Data Explorer, http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
At the high school level, the picture is even more sobering.
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Source:
Achievement is flat in reading for students overall.
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NAEP Long-Term Trends, NCES (2004)
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
And despite earlier improvements, gaps
between groups haven’t narrowed much
since the late 80s and early 90s.
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Source:
Math: Not much gap closing since 1990.
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African American Latino White
National Center for Education Statistics, “The Nation's Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012”
*Denotes previous assessment format
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Source:
Despite progress in recent years, too many students
are still not graduating on time
National Center for Education Statistics, 2014, http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2013-14.asp
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2014 Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rates by Race/Ethnicity
© 2016 THE EDUCATION TRUST
Clearly, there’s a lot of work to do.
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So, what is the Every Student Succeeds Act,
and how does it fit in?
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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the new
federal education law
• ESSA is the latest iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, originally passed in 1965.
• It replaces the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Obama Administration’s ESEA Flexibility program, or waivers.
• Title I of ESSA provides states with about $14 billion in funding to support the education of disadvantaged students. The law also indicates what states have to do as a condition of receiving these dollars.
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While it is far from perfect, ESSA contains a number of
meaningful levers that equity-minded legislators and
advocates can use to push for needed improvement in
their schools.
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To be clear, none of these levers will guarantee gap-closing and
improved achievement for all. No law, no matter how strong, could
ever do that.
But taken together, they represent key building blocks for an equity-
focused school system — one that sets high expectations for all
students, provides resources necessary for meeting those
expectations, measures and reports progress toward them, and
ensures action when any school — or any group of students — falls off
track.
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Standards
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Why are standards important for equity?
• Standards are statements of what students should know and be able
to do at each grade level.
• Consistent, high expectations are critical for ensuring that all
students — not just some — get access to meaningful learning
opportunities that prepare them for success after high school.
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What does ESSA require?
• Statewide standards that apply to all students in at least math, English
language arts, and science
• Standards must be aligned to
a) Entrance requirements for credit-bearing courses in the state’s system of
public higher education; and
b) Relevant career and technical education standards
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What decisions will states need to make? What questions
should you ask?
• Whose entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework will
states align standards to? Community colleges? Four-year
institutions?
• How will states and districts ensure that educators have the
supports and instructional resources they need to teach all
students to college- and career-ready standards?
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Assessments
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Why are assessments important for equity?
• Statewide, annual assessments aligned with state standards are an important way of measuring student progress consistently across classrooms, schools, and districts.
– They provide parents with objective information about whether their children are academically on track.
– They help educators benchmark the performance of their students against those across the state.
– And they give parents and the public an objective measure of how schools are doing at improving learning for all groups of students.
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What does ESSA require?
• Annual statewide assessments in reading and math in 3rd – 8th grade and once in high school;
science assessments once each in elementary, middle, and high school.
• Assessments must be aligned with state standards and provide information on whether a
student is performing at grade level.
• No more than 1 percent of all students in the state can take an alternate assessments for
students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
• States or localities may create their own laws on assessment participation, and districts are
required to notify parents about those, but participation requirements still exist (more on opt-
out later).
• Grants for states to support audits of district assessment systems to eliminate duplicative or
unaligned tests.
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Assessment Options:
What does ESSA require?• High School Assessment: An option for states or districts to use a nationally-recognized assessment (e.g. SAT or
ACT) at the high school level in place of the state test.
– These assessments must be aligned to the state standards, provide results that can be used for accountability,
and meet all the technical requirements that apply to statewide tests. They also have to be peer reviewed. District-
selected assessments must be approved by the state.
• Innovative Assessment Pilot: Allows the Secretary to set up a pilot for states that want to experiment with other
assessment formats, such as competency-based, or performance-based assessments.
– States may pilot new assessments in a subset of districts, but must scale up to statewide implementation if pilot is
successful, or discontinue if it is not.
– Pilot includes extensive quality criteria and safeguards, such as alignment requirements, and eventual statewide
implementation.
– Option to expand to more states over time.
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What decisions will states need to make? What
questions should you ask?
• Will a state allow locally-selected high school assessments?
• Will a state apply for the innovative assessment system pilot?
• What safeguards need to be in place to ensure that these assessments
are rigorous and truly comparable to statewide tests?
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Accountability
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Why is accountability important for equity?
• Well-designed accountability systems:
– Set a clear expectation that schools must raise the achievement of all of
their students, not just some
– Focus attention and resources on all groups of students, including those
who are sometimes ignored
– Prompt action when schools don’t meet expectations for any group of
students.
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School Ratings:
What does ESSA require?States must annually rate schools based on the following indicators, all of which (except #3) have to
be disaggregated by student group:
1. Academic Achievement
a. Proficiency on annual assessments, as measured against state-set gap-closing goals
b. May include growth for high schools
2. Other Academic Indicator
a. For high schools – graduation rate, as measured against state-set gap-closing goals
b. For non-high schools – growth or another valid, reliable, statewide academic indicator
3. Progress toward English language proficiency for English learners
4. Other valid, reliable, comparable and statewide measure of school quality
If a school is consistently underperforming for any group of students, that has to be reflected in the
ratings.
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Accountability for Assessment Participation
Two provisions aimed at curbing opt-out, regardless of state laws on
participation:
• States have to explain how they will factor the 95 percent participation
requirement, overall and for each group, into their systems; and
• Most students who are not tested will automatically count as not proficient.
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Action: What does ESSA require?
Action/intervention is required in at least the following types of schools:
• Comprehensive Support and Improvement:
– The lowest performing 5 percent of Title I schools and all high schools with graduation rates below 67 percent.
Districts have the initial responsibility for improvement activity. If schools don’t meet state-set exit criteria within
four years, states have to intervene.
• Targeted Support and Improvement:
– Schools where any group of students is consistently underperforming. Schools work with districts on
improvement activity. If schools don’t improve, the district has to ensure more rigorous intervention.
• Additional Targeted Support and Improvement:
– Schools that are performing as badly for one or more groups of students as the bottom 5 percent of schools are
for students overall. Schools work with districts on improvement activity. If schools don’t meet state-set exit
criteria in a state-determined number of years, they become comprehensive support and improvement schools.
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What decisions will need to be made at the state and local
levels? What questions should you ask in your state?• What goals will the state set for schools? How will the state know that these goals are both
ambitious, and achievable?
• Beyond tests and grad rates, what indicators will add to the picture of school performance
as opposed to masking outcomes?
• What is a rigorous definition of “consistently underperforming” for groups?
• What are appropriate supports and interventions for the lowest performers? Schools with
underperforming groups?
• What are the right timelines for these support and interventions? They need time to take
hold, but we can’t let students languish.
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Data Transparency and Public
Reporting
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Why is data transparency and public reporting
important for equity?
• Parents, community members and the public need to know how schools
are doing at preparing all students for post-high school success and
whether all students have access to key resources for learning.
• Without robust, transparent information, it’s far too easy to sweep gaps
in opportunity and achievement under the rug.
• Public reporting of key, actionable data, enables stakeholders to identify
inequities and ask the right questions to bring about change
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What does ESSA require?
State and local report cards that include the following information:
• Details of state accountability system, including schools identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement and
Targeted Support and Improvement
• Disaggregated results on all accountability indicators
• Disaggregated assessment participation rates
• Disaggregated results from Civil Rights Data Collection, including discipline rates and access to advanced
coursework
• Professional qualifications of educators, comparing high income to low income schools
• Actual per-pupil expenditures, disaggregated by funding source at state, district, and school level
• Number and percentage of students with most significant cognitive disabilities taking the alternative assessment
• Results of NAEP, compared to national results
• If available, rate at which high school cohorts matriculate to higher education (disaggregated by subgroup)
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What decisions will need to be made
at the state and local levels?
• How can states present all of these data in a way that is
understandable to parents, community leaders and the general public?
Will states make these report cards available in languages other than
English?
• What kinds of tools, training, or accompanying materials would help
parents and advocates use this information to fight for stronger
opportunities to learn for all children?
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Helpful Resources
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Helpful Resources
1. The Every Student Succeeds Act: What’s in it? What does it mean for equity?
– A set of seven factsheets about key provisions of ESSA (developed by Ed Trust)
– https://edtrust.org/resource/the-every-student-succeeds-act-whats-in-it-what-does-it-mean-for-equity/
2. Students Can’t Wait Resources
– Factsheets related to what to measure for school accountability developed by the Students Can’t Wait workgroup.
– Includes: Overview of school accountability under ESSA, introduction to what accountability indicators are, and factsheets on specific indicators, like discipline and chronic absenteeism.
– https://edtrust.org/students-cant-wait/