With the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, state officials are now treading through the murky water of how the bill will affect education in Missouri.
The bipartisan act restores some control back to states and cuts back on harsh penalties for schools that fall below the student achievement expectation set by the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act.
No Child Left Behind stemmed from an even older law - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, signed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. The civil rights law was intended to provide education funding to states so every student had access to education.
No Child Left Behind was the first major education reform act since 1965. Its goal was to increase student achievement and hold schools accountable for low student performance.
In short, the law mandated yearly testing in reading and math for children in third through eighth grade, and schools were required to show annual progress for students of all backgrounds. It also set a high-stakes expectation that all students should score proficiently in reading and math by 2014 - a utopian goal school officials say was excellent philosophically, but unrealistic.
Blair Oaks Superintendent Jim Jones said in order for all students to be proficient or advanced, the conditions have to be perfect for the three days of testing. All the students have to be healthy, emotionally sound, get enough sleep, and have a good relationship with their teachers and peers. There are too many factors that could hinder a student's performance.
Larry Linthacum, superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools, agreed. No Child Left Behind was a good concept - for all kids to have the opportunity to learn and reach their optimum potential - but 100 percent proficiency is impossible, he said.
Consistently failing schools were required to implement reforms and, in the most severe cases, hire new faculty or shut down and reopen as a charter school.
Missouri was among several states that applied for and received a waiver from the federal government so it wouldn't face penalties from No Child Left Behind. Its first waiver was approved in June 2012, and it was renewed in 2015. The current waiver will extend to the 2017-18 school year, but all state sanctions will be dropped as soon as Every Student Succeeds kicks in.
Every Student Succeeds, signed by President Barack Obama in early December, includes pieces of the former law but loosens the reins of federal control, giving more power to the individual states.
There will be a transition period as new federal funding for Every Student Succeeds is rolled out and funding for No Child Left Behind is used, said Chris Neale, assistant commissioner for the office of quality schools at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
This year, the federal government will release about $15 billion to be divided among all the states. Missouri won't know how big of a chunk it will get until the fall when the legislature appropriates funding, he said.
As for testing, students in third through eighth grade will still be tested on math and English language arts, but there's more flexibility with the testing schedule.
Neale said the department is still reviewing accountability penalties associated with the new law, but they don't seem as severe as penalties in No Child Left Behind.
In terms of state support and intervention practices, one big difference is instead of the state providing financial resources to struggling schools, it could have the latitude to provide resources on a district level.
"That's really important because in a big district that's having trouble, you may be able to improve a building, but that won't sustain if the district systems aren't present to support it," Neale said. "I use the word "may' because we have to study (the law) more."
Even though funding will be rolled out this year, districts likely won't notice any big changes from the new law for a couple years, he said. DESE officials are still wading through the bill, so the logistics of how Every Student Succeeds will affect Missouri schools is still somewhat unclear.
Missouri education is already in a state of flux, after the Legislature decided to drop the Common Core State Standards for math and English language arts and the Smarter Balanced standardized test that coincided with Common Core.
The 2014-15 academic year was the first and only year Missouri students took the Smarter Balanced test. DESE is in the midst of revising the Missouri Learning Standards and will then rewrite the state standardized test.
Upon first read of Every Student Succeeds, Neale said it doesn't seem to impede Missouri's current plan. It does, however, give the state a little wiggle room for what kind of schedule the new standardized test could be administered around.
Students have been taking a summative test in the spring, but some have complained the high-stakes test is a one-day snapshot of student achievement.
Under the new act, DESE now has the option to explore a different testing regime. The department has been getting requests from some superintendents to have something similar to a quarterly test so it's broken up over the year.
"It would make any given test less critical," Neale said. "It doesn't change the need for a summative score, but it does lower the anxiety."
Neale emphasized the department has not made any firm decisions regarding state control within the law; it's just one option DESE can explore with the flexibility of Every Student Succeeds.
"That makes sense to take the test periodically," Linthacum said. "(With the current testing) you have to wait four or five months to get the score. I would rather have something quarterly so you make adjustments throughout the year. The concept completely makes sense."
He said the bottom line is educating students, which will remain the district's focus.
Jones said the key element is to have a balance of learning and testing. Students are already taking so many tests, he said.
"Accountability to meet high standards is nothing new," Jones said. "The imbalance occurs when we spend so much time testing and not enough time teaching. Regarding NCLB or ESSA, our goal is going to remain the same: provide the best learning environment."
Jones said he will support DESE in whatever direction it chooses.
As for accountability, Neale said, while the penalties won't be as harsh, districts will be required to do a significant amount of reporting.
Districts already report to DESE disclosing student test scores, graduation rates, student demographics, teacher education levels, general discipline incidents, dropout rates, graduation analysis and attendance rates.
The reports will be even more in depth, including how subgroup populations at schools are performing.
Right now, the achievement of students with disabilities, English language learners, students in poverty and racial minorities is lumped into one "subgroup achievement" category, but in the future, it could be reported as individual groups.
"Sometimes just having to say in public how you're doing is as much as a penalty or as motivating," Neale said. "If you have to say, "Hey, I'm just not making it with my African American students even though my Caucasian students are way up here,' that's hard on you."
Every Student Succeeds specifies the new reporting has to be posted on a web page, but DESE isn't sure if districts will have to create the reports themselves or if state regulations will require DESE to gather the information and post it publicly. The logistics have yet to be determined, Neale said.
Overall, local officials say they welcome the new law and the opportunities it provides.
"I think it's safe to say that there are some things we welcome providing the states with freedom to do somethings and maybe we can consider them," Neale said.
Apart from that, he said he hasn't heard department leadership taking a stance on favoring or disapproving Every Student Succeeds.
Jones and Linthacum said they feel positive about the new law and are eagerly awaiting more information about how it will affect their districts.
"The bottom line is math is still math," Jones said. "I think Missouri has high expectations, and we're going to get up every day and prepare students as best we can."
"The concept is good," Linthacum said. "We like that there's more local control in Missouri versus federally; and the law talks about math and literacy, problem solving and critical thinking, and that's something we recognize as important, too."
THE SKINNY:
The Every Student Succeeds Act was signed into law Dec. 10 after it passed in the House of Representatives 359-64 and in the Senate 85-12. It replaces the 2002 law, No Child Left Behind.
The following are some of the key differences between Every Student Succeeds and No Child Left Behind:
• Changes in testing: Under Every Student Succeeds, students in third through eighth grade are still required to take a state assessment, but there's flexibility with the schedule. States have the option to break the test into parts as opposed to have an end-of-the-year summative test. If Missouri goes that direction, it lowers the high stakes pressure of the individual test because the broken down tests will be less crucial. The state will still have to compile a summative score, however.
• Penalties: There appear to be fewer penalties against districts, although officials at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education say specifics about penalties are unclear thus far. No Child Left Behind asked all students to score at least "proficient" in math and English language arts by 2014. If districts couldn't achieve that, they would have to appropriate federal funding toward tutoring, unless the state received a federal waiver. Also, schools that were consistently labeled as "failing" would have to reorganize and hire new faculty or shut down and reopen as a charter school.
• District reporting: Every Student Succeeds will require more in-depth school district reporting. Districts already report information to DESE including test scores, graduation rates, teacher qualifications and general discipline incidents. Test scores for student demographics are currently vague, though. Districts may have to break down test score information based on racial background, students in poverty and English language learners. Specifics have yet to be determined, except that district reports must be published on a web page.