ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act)
Every Student Succeeds (ESSA)
What are students expected to learn?
Description for this block. Use this space for describing your block. Any text will do. Description for this block. You can use this space for describing your Under ESSA, each state gets to set what students are expected to learn in each grade and must apply these standards to all students, including those with learning and attention issues. ESSA is very complex and confusing; however, the law’s requirements for annual testing, accountability, and school improvement receive the most attention so let’s take a look:
ESSA requires states to hold schools accountable for how students achieve. States have to measure school performance based on at least five factors—four are academic, mandatory and have to be given priority, or greater weight in the school’s overall rating: academic growth and achievement, English language proficiency, and high school graduation rates. The other is the state’s choice but must measure school quality or student success, for example, progress toward life goals, college and/or career readiness skills, behavioral health indicators etc.
States will use results from the above-mentioned accountability system to identify two main groups that need support and improvement:
- “Comprehensive Support and Improvement” which include the lowest-performing 5 percent of the schools in the state that receive Title I funding, all public high schools that fail to graduate one-third or more of their students
- “Targeted Support and Improvement” which are schools where any subgroup of students consistently underperforms.
Under ESSA, once a school is considered “struggling,” then states and school districts must create plans to try to help improve these struggling schools.
There are 9 Titles in ESSA
History of ESSA Timeline
ESSA New Accountability System
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a law that outlines how states can use federal money to support public schools. Under ESSA, states get to decide the education plans for their schools within a framework provided by the federal government. ESSA requires that states identify the lowest-performing schools and increase interventions if these schools do not improve.
NY receives about $1.6 billion annually in ESSA funding. In exchange for funding, states must have an accountability system for measuring school performance and determining which schools need extra support.
Here’s how this system works in NYS:
WHAT IS MEASURED
GOALS
INDICATORS TO BE MEASURED
For its accountability system, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) has established a new set of indicators to measure school performance beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.
STUDENTS
SUBGROUPS TO BE MEASURED
For every school, these measures are applied to all students and specific student subgroups, such as members of racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and English language learners
HOW THEY ARE MEASURED
SCORES
HOW SCHOOLS ARE MEASURED
ESSA requires states to identify
Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools and notify school districts if a school has underperforming subgroups (Targeted Support and Improvement and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement).
How schools are measured:
For every indicator:
- A score of “1” to “4” is given for all students at a school and
- A score of “1” to “4” is given for each specific student subgroup at a school for which the school is accountable
For every indicator, a school is given a numeric score:
- “1” is lowest
- “4” is highest
SCORES ARE USED TO ESTABLISH
IDENTIFICATION
HOW SCHOOLS ARE IDENTIFIED
After subgroups are measured and scored, schools are then given certain designations based on the scores. There are four designations:
CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement Schools)
TSI (Targeted Support and Improvement Schools)
Recognition Schools (high performing/rapidly improving schools)
Schools in Good Standing
How schools are identified:
CSI Schools:
A school can be identified as CSI because the school performs at level “1” on a combination of the new indicators or for high schools, if for all student groups the graduation rate is less than 67 percent. Beginning in 2018-19, New York will identify every three years at least 5 percent of all schools statewide as CSI.
- CSI schools will be identified every 3 years based on performance of all students
- CSI Schools will need to develop an improvement plan and submit it to NYSED for approval.
- CSI schools will need to implement an evidence-based, school-wide improvement strategy, begin student and parent participatory budgeting, and annually survey parents, teachers, and schools.
TSI Schools:
A school can be identified as TSI if one or more student subgroups performs at a level “1” on a combination of the new indicators. If a school had been in Good Standing, then it takes two years of low performance before the school becomes TSI.
- TSI schools will be identified every year based on subgroup performance
- TSI schools will need to develop an improvement plan, but do not need to submit it to NYSED. The plan must include evidence-based interventions, and they must annually survey parents, teachers, and students.
Schools in Good Standing:
Schools in good standing are those that are not identified as a comprehensive support and improvement or targeted support and improvement school
Recognition Schools:
A recognition school is a school in good standing that exhibits evidence of high performance and/or rapid improvement as determined by the commissioner of education
ESSA Designations and Receivership
* The newly identified Receivership Schools were in Priority status during the 2017-18 school year and are now newly identified as CSI Schools.
* Current Receivership Schools that are not identified as CSI Schools will be removed from Superintendent Receivership at the end of the 2018-19 school year.
ESSA Designations and Receivership
* Receivership schools are placed into Superintendent Receivership and must show Demonstrable Improvement beginning with the 2019-20 school year or will be placed into Independent Receivership.
* School districts may choose to close, or close and replace the school with a new school, in place of having an Independent Receiver appointed.