In April, Washington State became the first state to lose the
federal waiver from accountability provisions of the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB). Last year, the Department of Education awarded
waivers to 43 states and the District of Columbia for the 2013/2014
school year if states submitted an approved state accountability system
aligned with federal reform principles. Those principles included
ensuring college- and career-ready expectations for all students,
implement state-developed systems of differentiated recognition,
accountability and support, and supporting effective instruction and
leadership. NCLB was slated for reauthorization in 2007 Congress was
unable to come to an agreement. With growing frustration over the
punitive provisions of NCLB, and because congress was unable to agree on
reauthorization, the Obama Administration offered flexibility from U.S. Department of Education (ED) sanctions under the NCLB accountability system.
The loss of the waiver for Washington State was not unexpected. In
August 2013 Washington, along with three other states, were placed on
“high risk” status by the Department of Education for failing to
include statewide test scores in teacher evaluation. The use of student
test scores as part of the teacher evaluation systems is a federal
requirement to keep the waiver.
Washington State will not lose federal funding as a result of losing
the waiver; However, the state loses its flexibility in how those
federal funds will be spent. Under NLCB, a portion of Title I funds must
be set aside for schools failing to meet federal accountability
targets, to be used to transport students to more successful schools, train teachers, or pay for private tutoring program.
To better understand why the waiver was revoked, one has to reach back nearly 50 years to NCLB’s roots. NCLB
is the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA). ESEA was first established in 1965 under the Johnson Administration as part of the administration’s “war on poverty”. ESEA is
a broad federal statue, which authorizes federal funds for education
and has at it’s core the goal of improving the achievement of all
students, ensuring equal access to a quality education particularly among children from low-income homes. Since 1965, ESEA has been reauthorized every five years and in 2002, under the George Bush Administration, was reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
NCLB is most noteworthy for its federal accountability system
and required actions and sanctions for schools and districts failing to
meet those accountability standards. Under NCLB, all states are
required to assess students in basic skills. In Washington State those
have been against our state’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements,
first introduced in the 1990’s. (Washington State will transition to the
Common core State Standards and their accompanying assessments in
2014/2015). NCLB’s “yard stick” or metric on how schools and districts
are doing is Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). AYP sets annual targets
that require a certain and growing percentage of all students met
standard, with the goal that by 2014 100% of students in the state would
be “at standard” on the state assessment. Under NCLB AYP targets are
set for all students in a school or district and for sub-groups of
students such as those students identified for special education,
students eligible free and reduced lunch, or students not yet proficient
in English. Schools and district who do not meet achievement or AYP
targets as subject to increased accountability, especially those that
receive Title I funds under the ESEA.
Schools and districts that do not meet AYP face a series of
consequences. Returning to AYP ensures that nearly every school in
Washington State will not have met the federal AYP target of 100% of
students at standard and guarantees that nearly every school and
district will be required to notify their parents that their school or
district is deemed to be “failing” under federal accountability
standards. These letters are required to be approved by our state and
sent to parents in the coming weeks.
The debate over whether student learning growth should be a
substantial factor in teacher evaluation hinges on whether student
learning growth may be included in teacher evaluation versus student learning growth will
be a substantial factor in teacher evaluation. Because our state
assessment does not test all subjects or all grades, requiring the use
of state assessment data in teacher evaluation is inherently
problematic. However, our state’s new teacher and principal evaluation
does requires the use of student growth goals for all teachers and
principals as part of their yearly evaluation but offers a expanded
definition of student growth from two points in time on multiple
measures, giving the flexibility to educators as whether to use state
test scores or not.
As changes in our state and federal accountability systems play
out, it is important to remember that we will not be assessing the same
standards nor using the same assessment systems beginning in 2014/2015
as we transition to new rigorous Career and College Ready standards
(CCSS) and their companion assessments to measure progress (Smarter
Balanced Assessments). NCLB has long been regarded as flawed public
policy since nearly every school in the nation will be deemed to be
failing. Washington State’s accountability system, which aligns to
federal principles with the exception of using state test scores as part
of teacher evaluation, remains a sound metric to judge how our schools
are doing. Under our state accountability system the lowest performing
schools in our state are identified for support. Coupled with our state
accountability system, may we candidly suggest that engagement - student,
family and community - remains one of the greatest measure of our how
schools are doing.
In August, we sent out letters to our families to explain the accountability and sanctions under NCLB/AYP:
NCLB/AYP letter to all families
Title I SES/School Choice letter-Presidents
Title I SES/School Choice letter-Eagle Creek
We also sent letters out explaining the state categories for schools who have not met standard:
Focus School letter-Weston High
Priority School letter-Stillaguamish Valley School