Every Student Succeeds Act dominates classroom

President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law on Dec. 10,  2015, largely replacing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB is the old law that required annual testing in public schools and did not always consider specific needs of each community.

The new law authorizes the spending of $24.9 billion in 2016. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost is estimated to grow to $25.8 billion in 2020.

The new law also offers a more flexible approach to student testing and school accountability, making states responsible for fixing underperforming schools. Supporters of the legislation believe it will provide more stability and flexibility after years of uncertainty about NCLB.

On the other hand, however, critics expressed concerns that by removing federal oversight, states would feel little pressure to fix the under-performing schools.

“By removing the chance of failure, one major negative incentive for students to perform well in school is removed, potentially causing numerous students to slack off, and destroying the current grading system we have today,” said senior Brandon Yap.

Under ESSA, states are still required to test students annually in reading and math from grade three through eight, and only once in high school. But unlike NCLB, the bill permits states to establish their own accountability system to evaluate improvement, putting an end to federal guidelines for interpreting school quality.

So tests are still mandatory, but there is a greater extent of flexibility in terms of how and when states administer these assessments. There’s also an emphasis on finding different kinds of tests that more accurately measure what students are learning.

“I was not a big fan of the No Child Behind Act, because I thought it punished people that were often the ones that needed the most help. I am optimistic that the Every Student Succeed Act will be better, but I am cautiously optimistic as I have not seen any specific things as to what exactly is going to be implemented under it,” said Sarah Burke, social studies teacher.

Furthermore, the new law allows states to adopt Common Core but there is no requirement to do so. In fact, the Education Department has to remain neutral and is prohibited from influencing or coercing Common Core State standards to assessments.

The new bill recognizes computer science as one of the important academic subjects, placing it on equal footing with English and mathematics in classrooms across the U.S. Now computer science instructors receive same level of access to professional development opportunities as teacher in other subjects.