ESEA FLEXIBILITY

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ESEA FLEXIBILITY

• Virginia Federal Programs Statewide Conference

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Background

• In September 2011, the United States Department
  of Education (USED) offered each State
  Educational Agency (SEA) the opportunity to
  request flexibility on behalf of itself, its
  Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), and schools.
• Purpose to help SEAs, LEAs and schools move
  forward with state and local reforms
• designed to improve student learning and
• increase the quality of instruction for all
  students.

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Voluntary Opportunity

• Provides flexibility regarding certain
  requirements of the Elementary and Secondary
  Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) as amended by the No
  Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).
• In exchange for rigorous and comprehensive
  State-developed plans
• Designed to improve educational outcomes for all
  students
• Close achievement gaps
• Increase equity and
• Improve the quality of instruction.

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Key NCLB Requirements

• Content and achievement standards for all
  students in reading/language arts, mathematics
  and science
• No specific requirements for the rigor of
  standards
• Aligned assessments
• Administered annually in each of grades 3-8 and
  at least once in high school for reading/language
  arts and mathematics
• Administered once in each of three grade spans
  (3-5, 6-9 and 10-12) for science

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Key NCLB Requirements

• Adequate yearly progress (AYP) based on
• Each subgroup making annual measurable objectives
  (AMOs)
• Each subgroup making 95 percent participation
  rate
• For high schools, each subgroup making graduation
  rate goal or target
• For elementary/middle schools, all students
  making the other academic indicator (e.g.
  attendance rate, science, writing, etc.)

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Key NCLB Requirements

• AMOs
• Result in 100 percent proficiency by 2014
• Increase in equal increments at least every three
  years
• Same for all LEAs, schools and subgroups
• Example

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Key NCLB Requirements

• Failure to make AYP for two consecutive years or
  more results in identification of a school for
  improvement, corrective action or restructuring
  and required LEAs to take certain actions.
• Required actions include an LEA using an amount
  equal to 20 percent of its Title I funds to
  provide transportation for public school choice
  and supplemental educational services (SES).

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Why ESEA Flexibility?

• With the 2014 deadline approaching, Annual
  Measureable Objectives (AMOs) were increasing and
  more schools were being identified for
  improvement, including some high-achieving
  schools.
• One-size fits all accountability system was not
  sufficiently differentiating among identified
  schools.
• Requirements for AMOs, AYP and identification for
  improvement created a perverse incentive to lower
  standards in an attempt to identify fewer
  schools.

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Relief Offered from NCLB

• ED offered relief from the following NCLB
  requirements among others
• 2014 deadline for 100 percent proficiency
• Requirements for how AMOs are set
• Requirements to make AYP determinations
• Requirements to identify schools for improvement,
  corrective action or restructuring.
• Requirements to offer SES and Public School
  Choice

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Core Principles

• Principle 1
• Each SEA is raising expectations so that all
  students graduate from high school ready for
  college and a career by implementing
• State-developed college- and career-ready
  standards
• High-quality assessments aligned to those
  standards that
• Help educators improve instructional practices
• Provide all students with the opportunity to
  demonstrate what they know and are able to do
• Provide parents with useful information about
  student performance.

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Core Principles

• Principle 2
• Each SEA is implementing differentiated
  accountability systems for schools and districts
  that incorporate a variety of measures,
  including
• Rigorous performance and graduation rate targets
  to
• Identify under-performing schools and subgroups
• Target meaningful interventions based on need
  and
• Identify high-performing or rapidly improving
  schools.
• Strategic approaches that create purposeful
  differentiation that allows States to
• Take dramatic action in the lowest-performing
  schools and
• Provide greater autonomy to high performing
  schools.

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Core Principles

• Principle 3
• Each SEA has committed to implement teacher and
  principal evaluation and support systems based on
  multiple measures including
• Student growth as a significant factor and
• Other measures of professional practice that
  meaningfully differentiate performance such as
• Observations based on rigorous teacher
  performance standards
• Teacher portfolios and
• Student and parent surveys.
• These systems are designed to provide teachers
  and leaders with clear, timely, and useful
  feedback.

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Core Principles

• Principle 4
• Each SEA is working to reduce duplication and
  unnecessary burden.

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2011 Approved States

• Forty-two (42) states and the District of
  Columbia and Puerto Rico received approval in
  2011.

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New Flexibility Invitation

• In November 2014, USED invited all SEAs with
  requests that would expire at end of the
  2014-2015 school year to request a three-year
  renewal of ESEA flexibility that would extend
  through the end of the 2017-2017 school year.
• In addition, any Window 1 or Window 2 SEA fully
  meeting its commitments to the timelines and
  principles of ESEA flexibility is eligible to
  request a four-year renewal through the 2018-2019
  school year.

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2015 ESEA Flexibility Submissions

• All states and territories that took advantage of
  the ESEA flexibility opportunity in 2011, applied
  for the 2015 opportunity.
• Expedited opportunity for Window 1 or 2 states
• Apply by January 31, 2015
• Approvals announced on March 31, 2015
• KY, MN, NC, NM, VA
• 4 year approvals through the 2018-2019 school
  year

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2015 ESEA Flexibility Submissions

• Additional approvals announced
• 4 year approvals
• NY
• 3 year approvals
• DC, GA, HI, KS, MO, NV, PR, RI, SC, and WVA
• 1 year approvals
• DE, MA and OK

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Why Approve Waiver Renewals Now?

• Strong, bipartisan reauthorized ESEA is the best
  solution and that means a law that holds high
  expectations for all students and protects the
  most vulnerable.
• However, approved waivers for nearly all States
  are set to expire before the new school year
  begins in September 2015 and in the absence of
  reauthorization, ED wants to continue to provide
  States the flexibility they need to innovate and
  focus on schools and students most at risk.
• In the event that Congress reauthorizes ESEA, ED
  will work with States to help them transition
  from ESEA flexibility to implementation of the
  reauthorized ESEA.

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Highlights of ESEA Flexibility for States

Georgia has supported college and career
readiness by enabling middle school students
taking advanced, high school level math and
science courses to take the high school level
end-of-course assessment early, in place of the
end-of-grade assessment.
Hawaii has designed a comprehensive and
integrated structure to provide customized
support to schools through the use of its Complex
Area Support Teams (CAST). These teams provide
individualized technical assistance to schools
for each of the six priority strategies.
West Virginia has developed a program that
provides continuous support for priority schools,
utilizing dedicated state-level school
improvement coordinators who meet weekly with
school leadership teams to determine the specific
needs of each school and to provide a customized
approach to school improvement.
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Highlights of ESEA Flexibility for States

• New York has been able to focus on the equitable
  distribution of effective teacher talent. One
  major way this is being accomplished is through
  the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Continuum,
  which is a seven-component plan designed to
  improve the quality, quantity and diversity of
  the teacher workforce. This innovative system
  focuses on all areas of an educators
  professional practice, including preparation
  while in a college-setting, recruitment and
  placement, mentoring, and performance
  management.
•  

Missouri has implemented the Diverse Learner
Amplification Project. Teachers for English
language learners and students with disabilities,
and core academic teachers from all parts of
Missouri, participated in work to ensure that
English language learners, students with
disabilities and economically disadvantaged
students not only develop the academic language
required to be successful in core curriculum, but
also develop skills that will allow them to go on
to a successful post-secondary program.
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Highlights of ESEA Flexibility for States

• Delaware is providing extensive in-person and
  online support for staff implementing teacher
  and principal evaluation and support systems in
  order to ensure that those systems provide
  feedback that educators can actually use to
  improve their instructional practice.
• South Carolina has focused on using data to
  improve educational opportunities and outcomes
  for students. The state has created an
  innovative set of data dashboards that can be
  used by school guidance counselors, parents and
  educators to identify individual student needs
  and inform timely, accurate and effective
  educational strategies and activities to address
  those needs.
•  

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Contact Information

• Roberta Miceli, Deputy Director
• United States Department of Education
• Office of State Support
• Roberta.Miceli_at_ed.gov
• [phone]