Why U.S. states earn poor marks on public ed support
A look at new legislation, and the report that shows there are no ‘silver bullets’ to improve schools
The recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) can provide a new opportunity for states to engage in initiatives to strengthen their public schools.
After the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), states assumed the role of supervisors of compliance, rather than initiators of change.ESSA will shift considerable responsibility for education policy and accountability from the federal government back to the states. Now states will have freedom to alter teacher evaluation systems as they see fit, and will have greater freedom in how they develop accountability systems and how they use the results of tests.
As we embark on this new era of state responsibility and reform, it is important to step back and evaluate the extent to which each state is already supporting (or undermining) its public schools. Such analysis would provide a glimpse into the direction in which states are likely to use their new freedom under ESSA.
Related: The Every Student Succeeds Act contains some new ideas on how to train teachers, but are they good?
The Network for Public Education’s new report entitled “Valuing Public Education: A 50 State Report Card,” provides a window into what policies and practices we can expect from our states. It evaluates how well each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia are presently supporting their public schools, based on objective and measurable factors identified by the Network for Public Education and a research team at the University of Arizona.
The report card gives high grades to states for embracing policies that help make their public schools vibrant and strong — a well-trained, professional teaching force, adequate and equitable funding wisely spent, and social conditions that give all students a better opportunity for educational success. And it lowers the grades of states that have embraced privatization and rely on testing to set graduation standards, promotion standards and teacher accountability.
This is how the report card works: It evaluates states based on six different criteria related to their laws and policies. The report card also considers the measurable effects those laws and policies have on schools. For example, although there are no longer laws that allow racial segregation, a state’s housing and school choice laws affect the Why U.S. states earn poor marks on public ed support - The Hechinger Report: