For Immediate Release: March 31, 2016
Contact: Renee Rybak Lang, renee.lang@nasbe.org, 703-740-4841
ESSA Provides Opportunity for States to Ensure Coherence across Education Policies
Alexandria, VA – The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives state boards of education a new opportunity to evaluate, improve and align policies aimed at enhancing student learning and achievement. A new series of NASBE policy updates highlights the importance of consistency across policies to ensure effective, efficient learning systems and successful ESSA implementation. The series reintroduces the NASBE Standards-Based Leadership Framework, which places learning standards at the center of state education systems where it becomes the lens through which state boards view policy development.
ESSA provides opportunities to act on six components of the Standards Based Leadership Framework: student and educator expectations, curriculum design, educational materials, measures of effectiveness, accountability, and professional development.
- Expectations. State boards must set high expectations for students and create environments that allow them to thrive. Under ESSA, state boards can explore multiple pathways to graduation and ensure assessments reflect students’ readiness for college and careers.
- Curriculum. ESSA leaves states with open-ended responsibility over curriculum. State boards are in a prime position to encourage locally developed curriculum frameworks that align to learning standards while empowering educators to organize student learning goals.
- Materials. Students are less likely to be prepared for college, careers, and civic life if they lack standards-aligned materials. Open education resources (OERs) are growing in popularity. While state board authority over educational material selection varies, they are in a good position to help ensure OERs are in alignment with learning standards.
- Measures of Effectiveness. Measures of effectiveness in an educational framework can be divided into input, process, and outcome measures. A state system that accounts for all types of measures is more accountable, diagnostic, and comprehensive than systems that do not, driving continuous, systemic improvement.
- Accountability. Effective accountability systems help direct resources, supports, and recognition to ensure all schools improve. States should consider several key principles in designing accountability systems under ESSA, including a commitment to equity, standards alignment, and incorporation of multiple measures.
- Professional Development. Under ESSA, state boards have clear incentives to align professional standards with student learning standards. State boards should assess their own definitions, standards, and guidelines around professional development to ensure they mirror the skills and goals that students are expected to attain.
“ESSA’s success will largely be judged by how well SBEs thoughtfully and strategically implement it over the long term,” writes Robert Hull, director of NASBE’s Center for College, Career, and Civic Readiness. “If boards start with that in mind, they will exemplify the proactive leadership that will truly benefit students and schools.”
Read “Standards-Based Leadership Framework: A NASBE Policy Update Series.”
The National Association of State Boards of Education represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. Our principal objectives are to strengthen state leadership in education policymaking, advocate equality of access to educational opportunity, promote excellence in the education of all students, and ensure responsible lay governance of education. Learn more at www.nasbe.org.
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