New federal education law offers more flexibility, say isle officials

Hawaii’s education leaders are viewing the recent overhaul of America’s national education law as an opportunity to redefine success for isle public schools.

Under the former No Child Left Behind Act, which had been in effect since 2002, the federal government labeled schools as passing or failing based primarily on a snapshot of reading and math tests students took once a year. Now, with Congress’ reauthorization of the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act, states will have the flexibility to design their own accountability systems.

“Big picture,” said Hawaii schools Deputy Superintendent Stephen Schatz, “it’s going to provide us the opportunity to continue to define success for Hawaii schools in a way that makes sense for us. … That’s exciting for us.”

Some of the biggest criticisms of No Child Left Behind were that it overemphasized test scores, and punished rather than supported schools. The law had set the goal of having every student in the nation performing at or above grade level in reading and math on standardized tests by 2014. Schools had to meet rising proficiency targets or face federal sanctions that could include replacing school staff, reopening as a charter school or turning over operations to a private company.

Disagreements in Washington over how best to rewrite the education law stretched on for years until Congress last month passed the latest version of the law, now known as the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The legislation, signed into law Dec. 10 by President Barack Obama, replaces No Child Left Behind and significantly shifts the balance of control over education policy away from the federal government and back to states.

“Restoring responsibility to states and teachers will, I believe, inaugurate a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement,” U.S. Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said last month following the Senate’s passage of the bill. “The real winners in this remarkable consensus will be 50 million children in 100,000 public schools.”

The law allows states to select college- and career-ready standards, create school accountability systems, and intervene in low-performing schools — all without federal influence. The requirement that states test students annually remains.

Hawaii Department of Education officials say it’s too soon to know exactly how the state’s public school system will adapt to the changes; the 1,061-page law won’t be fully implemented until the 2017-18 school year. But the DOE says Hawaii has a head start because it was one of 42 states granted a waiver from the most outdated mandates in No Child Left Behind.

Under that waiver, Hawaii in 2013 implemented a state-developed accountability system known as Strive HI. (All federal waivers will expire Aug. 1, under the Every Student Succeeds Act.)

The Strive HI system — which the department says is designed to help schools better prepare students for success in college and careers — annually ranks the performance of all 256 public schools and 34 charters using multiple metrics. In addition to test scores, it credits schools for attendance, graduation and college-going rates, and closing the achievement gap between high-needs students — English-language learners, those economically disadvantaged or with disabilities — and their peers.

“The flexibility the feds are giving under (Every Student Succeeds) — Strive HI could fit under that construct. It’s very similar to what’s allowed under the new law,” said Tammi Chun, Hawaii’s assistant superintendent for strategy, innovation and performance. “We are ahead of the game by having Strive HI under the flexibility waiver, by adding additional measures beyond just test scores. … It’s an opportunity to take a look at what we’ve done, what’s happened so far, how it’s worked, to make improvements based on what we’ve learned.”

The 13,500-member Hawaii State Teachers Association is hoping to collaborate with the DOE on implementation.

“The whole idea of this entire bill is to return (control) to the local level,” HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said. “It gives us the potential to break away from this whole test-and-punish model.”

Here’s a look at some of the meatier parts of the new law as it relates to academic standards, standardized testing, high-stakes teacher evaluations and interventions for low-performing schools.

Academic standards

The law doesn’t mandate national standards like the Common Core, but requires states to adopt “challenging” academic content and achievement standards in math, reading or language arts, and science. The academic standards, the law says, must be “aligned with entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework in the system of public higher education in the state.”

Hawaii was one of 45 states and the District of Columbia that initially signed onto the Common Core, nationally crafted standards that lay out what language arts and math skills students should have by the end of each grade.

The Obama administration gave states incentives to adopt the standards through its Race to the Top grant program and No Child Left Behind waivers. Hawaii won a grant and waiver.

“People are asking, ‘Are we going to keep having Common Core?’ The answer is yes,” Chun said. “The law still requires college- and career-ready standards.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Board of Education is expected to take up a recommendation in the spring to adopt what’s known as the Next Generation Science Standards. So far, a third of the states have adopted the K-12 standards that emphasize scientific inquiry and engineering design.

Standardized tests

Standardized assessments will still have to be given annually in the same subjects and grades — third through eighth — and once in high school.

The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to implement “a set of high-quality student academic assessments” in reading or language arts, math and science “to measure the achievement of all public elementary school and secondary school students in the state.” The law maintains the requirement that states test at least 95 percent of eligible students.

“Unlike some who believe we should have no testing, the federal government requires it, and I think a lot of parents and community members — nobody wants kids to be overtested, but they would like to know how students are doing in comparison with how they should be doing,” Chun said.

Hawaii last spring for the first time administered a Common Core-aligned test called the Smarter Balanced assessment, which replaced the Hawaii State Assessment for reading and math.

Teachers here and nationally raised concerns about too much classroom time being devoted to preparing for the tests, which, on average, took Hawaii students seven hours to complete over several class periods. Chun said the state is in discussions about reducing the amount of time it takes to do the tests.

Rosenlee, the head of the teachers union, said he wants to see the state use the ACT or SAT college-entrance exams in lieu of Smarter Balanced. “Right now, all high school students have to take the ACT anyway, and it’s a much shorter test; students can use it to get into colleges,” he said.

Accountability

The law requires states to develop a statewide accountability system “to improve student academic achievement and school success” by establishing “ambitious” goals and measuring indicators that include academic achievement and growth on annual assessments, and high school graduation rates — which Strive HI does now.

“The feds still require testing but it’ll be up to states to determine how much weight to give it, within certain parameters,” Chun said. “So this is another opportunity to relook at the weights that we place.”

Under the new law, states also can measure other factors such as student engagement, school climate and safety, and access to and completion of advanced coursework. It also requires states to establish a methodology to identify schools needing support and improvement, including the lowest-performing 5 percent of all schools and public high schools failing to graduate at least one-third of their students.

High-stakes teacher evaluations

While teacher evaluations are not mandated under Every Student Succeeds, states will have the authority to continue to use student achievement — test scores — in teacher evaluation, a practice currently in place here and in 41 other states and the District of Columbia.

Using student achievement data “was a requirement to get the waiver,” Chun said, adding, “it’s no longer a federal requirement.”

But the evaluations aren’t likely to go away — at least not immediately — because BOE policy and the teachers union contract require annual performance ratings that are based 50 percent on teacher practice and 50 percent on student learning.