Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA) Renewal Guidelines Released

Posted by Beth DuBose on Mar 17, 2010

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has released broad principles for renewing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The guidelines will focus on some of the same areas NCLB orginally did, such as disaggregating data and improving the performance of particular student groups, such as students in special education. But the new act would allow states more flexibility on how they would handle districts that are struggling to meet requirements, and would allow states the decision to test beyond reading and math. The 2014 date from NCLB where all students would need to be proficient in reading and math would disappear, allowing states time to develop college/career ready programs in their schools with no new deadline determined yet.

With the new ESEA act, the bottom 5% of schools would be required to use on eof the four tournaround models presented by the US DOE. The next 5% would be put on a warning list, and would be required to use research-based interventions within their curriculum. Also, states would be required to identify the schools with the largest achievement gaps, if if those students do not show improvement in three years, the state will take over the school’s Title I money.

From the interviews listed in EdWeek, it seems Administrative organizations like what they see in the blueprint but teacher organizations do not because it places so much emphasis on the teacher being responsible for the success of the school.

If you would like to read the entire article, please visit Education Week