Dive Brief:
- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 54 organizations sent a letter to Secretary of Education John King calling for "robust and meaningful" regulations to be part of Every Student Succeeds Act accountability mandates for states.
- Their goal is to make sure that education for students who are living with disabilities; from poor families; English-language learners; Native Americans; LGBT; homeless; in foster care; in the juvenile justice system; and boys and girls of color is properly accounted for in all states.
- No hard guidelines regarding ESSA implementation have been written, so some say it's too soon to tell if regulation and oversight will need to be more robust. Yet with power over accountability shifted back to the state level, it's likely that accountability measures will vary from state to state.
Dive Insight:
The activists' letter to Dr. King comes at a critical time, as the names of the committee members who will draft regulation proposals for ESSA have just been released.
They include state and local education administrators and board members, and also include tribal leadership, parents, students, teachers, principals, and "the civil rights and business communities." The Department of Education previously released guidance over ESSA implementation in December.
ESSA doesn't taking effect until fall. Right now, it's too soon to tell how states and districts will work together under the new law without federal mandates, but some, like ELL advocates, are already concerned about protections in the new law due to its abandonment of federal accountability measures specific to English language learners.
Concerns have also arisen around teacher accountability shifting back to state control, although some states, like New Mexico, have said they want to remain in adherence with the old federal mandates. Critics have also questioned ESSA's pay-for-access ed funding initiatives.
