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ESSA Loosens Reins on Teacher Evaluations, Qualications - Education Week

Published Online: January 5, 2016

Published in Print: January 6, 2016, as Law Could Spur Changes in Teacher Requirements
Corrected: January 6, 2016.

Complete Coverage

ESSALoosensReinsonTeacherEvaluations,Qualifications
ByStephen Sawchuk

WiththesigningoftheEveryStudentSucceedsActintolaw,
aneraofsignificantfederalinvolvementinteacherlicensing
andevaluationhascometoanend.
Mostnotably,thenewlawdoesnotrequirestatestoset
upteacherevaluationsystemsbasedinsignificantpart
onstudents'testscoresakeyrequirementoftheU.S.
DepartmentofEducation'sstatewaiversysteminconnection
withESSA'spredecessor,theNoChildLeftBehindAct.
Atleastsymbolically,then,ESSAcomesasarepudiationof
oneoftheObamaadministration'skeypolicypushes.But
practically,it'sanopenquestiontowhatextentthelawwill
emboldenstatestoreviseorabandontheirnewmethodsfor
gradingteachers.
TherearealreadyeffortsunderwayinstatessuchasNew
York,Oklahoma,andSouthCarolinatoreconsiderevaluation
policiesotherstatesplantoholdfirm.
"Somestatesmayrollbackevaluationlawsintheshortterm,
butIthinkit'llbealongerdiscussioninthebulkofthe
states,"saidDanielWeisberg,theCEOoftheteachertraining
andadvocacygroupTNTP,asupporteroftheadministration's
pushtooverhaulteacherevaluation.
"Thebiggestvariableishowmuchoppositionstatesgetfor
proposingtogobacktodayswherevirtuallyallteacherswere
ratedgoodorgreatwithoutanymeasuresofstudentimpact,"
hesaid.

LessRigidApproaches
Largelypromptedbythecontrastbetweenskyhigh
evaluationscoresforteachersandresearchshowingthat
teachersvarysignificantlyintheirabilitytoraise
studentachievement,theEducationDepartmentconditioned
its2011waiversinpartonstates'settingupnewsystemsfor
evaluatingteachers.(Somestatesalsocommittedtorevampingtheir
evaluationsystemstoqualifyforfederalRacetotheTopfunds.)

InsideESSA
Under ESSA, States, Districts to
Share More Power
ESSA Regulatory Machinery
Starting to Crank Up

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MoststatesgottheNCLBwaivers,butstruggledmightilytogetnew
systemsinplace.Thefocusontestscoresprovedtobehighly
unpopularwithteachers,promptingmorethanadozenlawsuitsand
helpingfuelthetesting"optout"movementamongparents.
Giventhosepoliticalstumblingblocks,willstatescontinuetoholdonto
adifficult,messypolicywhennolongermandatedtodoso?
SomestateofficialscontactedbyEducationWeeksaidthey're
committedtoimprovingteacherevaluation,butwantfarlessrigid
approaches.
TheEducationDepartment'swaiverdemands"causedusto
havetotrainallourteachersonevaluationinoneyearand
implementitveryhurriedly,"saidMollySpearman,thestate
superintendentforSouthCarolina.She'llbeaskingherstate
boardofeducationtodelayfortwoyearsuntil201819the
requirementforalldistrictstouse"studentlearning
objectives,"whicharestudentgrowthgoalssetbyteachers,
forevaluations.Andthestatewouldliketomakethose
measuresanartifactexaminedbyevaluators,notaspecific,
weightedcomponentofeachteacher'sreview.
"We'llstillusestudentprogressassomepart,butwe'rede
emphasizingthemodelandtheweighting,"Spearmansaid.

Funding Flexibility Enhanced

Under New K12 Law
ESSA Loosens Reins on Teacher
Evaluations, Qualifications
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School Success
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ESSA Boost
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Diverse Learners
View the Full Report

TitleIIShifts
Oneofthe lessernoticed changes inthe
Every Student Succeeds Act concerns the
$2.3 billionstate teacherquality grants
program,also known as TitleII.
Theformula forallocating these dollars
considers both student populationand
poverty.As part of ESSA, Congress rewrote
theformula to weight the poverty factor
more heavily. It also did away with the
minimumaward amountguaranteedto
each state since 2002.

Georgia'scurrentsuperintendent,RichardWoods,hasbeen
vocalabouthisconcernsaboutthestate'sweightingofstudent
achievementfor50percentofeachteacher'sevaluationrating.
Andalthoughit'stooearlytooutlinespecificrevisions,"the
superintendentwillbetakingaverycloselookatthis,"Georgia
DepartmentofEducationspokesmanMattCardozasaid.

Thenewformulawillbephased in

InOklahoma,districtshavestruggledtoimplementstudent
growthmeasuresforteachersinnontestedsubjects.
OklahomaSuperintendentJoyHofmeistersaidshe'dlikeher
statetoconsideranapproachtakenbytheTulsaschool
district,whichusesstudentsurveyresultsinstead.Andshe
thinksthatteachersshouldstillreceive"valueadded"
informationonstudents'testprogress,butthatitshouldn't
triggerconsequenceslikedismissals.

ACongressional Research Service

"Wecertainlyneedtohaveasystemofteachereffectiveness
andanevaluativetoolforprincipalsandteachers,butitneeds
tobefocusedmoreonselfreflection,continuousimprovement,
andprofessionalgrowth,"Hofmeistersaid."Wedonotwantto
unravelorderailtheworkofourstate...yetIdefinitelythink
changeshavetobemadeinordertoaccomplishthatgoal."
NewYorkofficialslastmonthapprovedplanstodelayfor
fouryearsthetetheringoftestscorestoteacher
evaluation.Butthatcouldhavehadmoretodowiththe
state'spoliticalsituationthanwithESSA,contendsJenny
Sedlis,theexecutivedirectorofStudentsFirstNY,anadvocacy
groupthatbackstheuseofscoresinevaluations.

gradually toavoid suddenordrasticshifts.

Butovertime, because of the changes,
teacherqualityfundingwillmove away
from theRust Belt and toward Southern
states.

analysisprojectsthat, by the time the

newformula fully takeseffect in fiscal
2023, the following states' andterritories'
annualallocation will decrease by $10
million or more fromtheir fiscal2016
grant:Illinois,Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and
PuertoRico.
California, Florida,Georgia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Texaswill see an annual
award of$10millionmore than they
receivedin fiscal 2016.
Among other changes,states maynow use
their teacherquality funds to support
residencybasedteacherprepprograms, in
which teachercandidates spend a year
being guidedinto teaching by mentors.
They canalsoset up teacher
preparation "academies"independent
of higher educationand traditional

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qualitycontrol systems, butovertime the

ThehighrateoftestingoptoutsinNewYorkthispastspring
academies must produce teacherswith
wasunusual,aswastheextentofthestate'steachers'union
effective track records.
effortstopromotethemovement,shesaid.Intakingastep
back,sheargued,Gov.AndrewCuomoistryingtorebuildbuy Stephen Sawchuk
inonevaluationandaccountability.

"Afterayearortwoofseeing98percentofteachersratedeffective,parentsandlegislatorsarenotgoing
tobesoopentoclaimsthatteachersarebeingheldtoanunfairstandard,"shesuggested.
Stillotherstateofficialsarealreadyontherecordsayingtheyplantoholdfirmtothesystemsthey
establishedduringthewaiverera.
"Weabsolutelyintendtostaythecourse,"saidHannaSkandera,thesuperintendentinNewMexico,
wherethenewevaluationsystemhasfacedseverallegalchallenges,inarecentpresscallorganizedby
theCouncilofChiefStateSchoolOfficers.
NorthCarolina'sstatechief,JuneAtkinson,saidshecouldenvisiononlyminoralterationstoher
state'ssystem.
Andthoughhe'sacriticoftheObamaerateacherevaluations,AaronPallas,asociologistofeducationat
TeachersCollege,ColumbiaUniversity,doesn'tthinkthatESSA'spassagewillnecessarilychangethings
muchinstates.
TheESSAlaw"stillrequiresthestatetestingsystemsthatprovidefodderforteacherevaluations,"he
noted,"soIdon'tthinkthatESSAbyitselfislikelytoalterthetrajectoryofstatewideteacherevaluation
systems."
Buttheteachers'unionsseeanopeningtochangepoliciestheirmembershavebroadlyrejected.They
arealsofarmorepowerfulamongstatelegislaturesthaninCongress.
"Overandoverandover,whatweheardfromstateofficials[onteacherevaluation]was,'Thefedsare
makingusdothis.We'dliketonegotiatemorewithyou,butwecan't,'"saidSegunEubanks,thedirector
oftheNationalEducationAssociation'sprofessionalsupportsdivision."Wehopeforamorecooperative
processifwewanttorevisit[evaluation]."
TheAmericanFederationofTeachersplanstobringitspoliticalclouttobearontheissue,too.
"Absolutely,"AFTPresidentRandiWeingartensaid."Youcan'tjuststopatwe'vegottenthelawchanged.
Youcan'tjuststopwithgettingridofbadthings.Youhavetofightforwardtocraftbetterpolicy.Insome
ways,thisstepisharder,becauseyouhavetomakethingsrightnow."

'HighlyQualified'RulesCut
Winningthoserevisionswon'tnecessarilybeeasy.Teacherevaluationpoliciesaresetinlaworregulation
insome42statesandtheDistrictofColumbia,accordingtotheNationalCouncilonTeacherQuality,
whichmeansmoststateswouldneedtorewritelegislationorregulations.
Andthepastdecadehasgivenrisetoaslewofstatebasedadvocacygroupsthatlargelybackevaluation
reformandthatcanbeexpectedtokeepthepressureontopreservethesystems.
Meanwhile,theESSAlawalsoabandonsitspredecessor'swellknownrequirementthatstatesstaffeach
coreacademicclasswitha"highlyqualified"teacher.(Generally,thatmeantateacherhadtoholda
bachelor'sdegree,statecertification,andhavedemonstratedcontentknowledge.)
UnderESSA,teachersinschoolsreceivingTitleIfundsneedonlyfulfilltheirstate'slicensing
requirements.

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TheNCLBteacherqualityruleswerebroadlyunpopularbecauseoftheirbureaucraticcomplexityand
becausemanyadvocatesquestionedhowmuchtheyhelpedboostteacherquality.Variousloopholes
inthelawexemptedteachersintrainingandmanyveteranteachersfromhavingtofulfillallthe
requirements.
Statesweretohavemetthe100percentmarkfortheirteachersasfarbackasthe20052006school
year.Butthelawspecifiedfewconsequencesforstatesthatfellbehind,andtheU.S.Departmentof
Educationneverpenalizedanystatefinanciallyfornotmeetingthegoal.Asofthe201415schoolyear,
statesreportedmorethan96percentoftheircoreacademicclassesweretaughtby"highlyqualified"
teachers.
KateWalsh,thepresidentoftheNCTQ,believesthattherulesneverthelessdidsparksomepositive
changes,suchasencouragingseveralstatestoestablishcontenttestsforelementaryteachers.
Butmostofthoserevisionstookplaceinthefirstfewyearsunderthelaw.Bynowtheprovisionshave
largelyruntheircourse,shesaid.
"We'renotholdingafuneraloverhere,"shesaid.
Still,otherteacherqualityadvocatesworrythattheabsenceofaminimumteacherqualitystandardin
ESSAcouldenduphurtingpoorandminoritystudents.
Forexample,theNCLBlawexplicitlyprohibitedoutoffieldteachersandthoseonemergencycertificates
frombeingconsidered"highlyqualified."AndunderESSA,parentswillnolongerhavetobenotifiedin
writingiftheirchildrenaretaughtbythoseteachers.
"Expectationsregardingentryandsuccess[intheprofession]shouldalsobesetforthoseresponsiblefor
educatingstudents,"saidtheCoalitionforTeachingQuality,whichrepresentsmorethan100nationaland
stategroups,includingtheteachers'unionsandtheAmericanAssociationofCollegesforTeacher
Education.
Inaperiodofregionalteachershortages,thegroup'sconcerns
arenotmerelyacademic.InstateslikeOklahomaandNevada
lawmakershavebeenfranticallyexploringwaystohire
newteachersmorequickly.

RELATED BLOG

"TheHQTrulesputsignificantrestrictionsonhowthose
vacanciesarefilledwithoutthem,itwillbeinterestingtosee
whatstatesanddistrictsdecidetodo,"EubanksoftheNEA
said.
StaffWriterDaarelBurnetteIIcontributedtothisarticle.

Visit this blog.

CoverageofpolicyeffortstoimprovetheteachingprofessionissupportedbyagrantfromtheJoyce
Foundation,atwww.joycefdn.org/Programs/Education.EducationWeekretainssoleeditorialcontrol
overthecontentofthiscoverage.
Vol. 35, Issue 15, Pages 1415

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