Great question that elicited an enormous number of thoughts, but I will highlight three, below!
First curriculum, I believe that schools, communities and school boards have minimal choices in the identification of their curriculum. Every public school, in every state, is held accountable to “hit” specific targets to obtain a grade and be coined as a successful or failing school. Thus, while many will say, administrators, teachers, parents, community members and school boards choose a school district’s curriculum, I would have to beg to differ. Ultimately, the policymakers are the primary decision-makers, and with keenly created guidelines and expectations, schools are then responsible for identifying curriculum for their students within these narrowly defined terms. …show more content…
States had to follow the ESSA guidelines to create a state plan that meets the federal requirements. First, states created an ESSA plan, then submitted it to the DOE for approval. While waiting for DOE approval, many states began to redefine their state report card indicators to align with their new ESSA plan and then schools started to review their curriculum to ensure it matches the new requirements. Next, the DOE sent the majority of state plans back for revisions, which in turn required states to alter their new report card indicators and thus, requiring schools to go back and review their curriculum alignments, again.
While many of the components of ESSA are pivotal in ensuring equity for all student populations, with the clear expectation of services for English Learners, students with special needs, at-risk populations, and other racial ethnicities, the focus on school grades and report cards, has trumped the individualization of student and community
First curriculum, I believe that schools, communities and school boards have minimal choices in the identification of their curriculum. Every public school, in every state, is held accountable to “hit” specific targets to obtain a grade and be coined as a successful or failing school. Thus, while many will say, administrators, teachers, parents, community members and school boards choose a school district’s curriculum, I would have to beg to differ. Ultimately, the policymakers are the primary decision-makers, and with keenly created guidelines and expectations, schools are then responsible for identifying curriculum for their students within these narrowly defined terms. …show more content…
States had to follow the ESSA guidelines to create a state plan that meets the federal requirements. First, states created an ESSA plan, then submitted it to the DOE for approval. While waiting for DOE approval, many states began to redefine their state report card indicators to align with their new ESSA plan and then schools started to review their curriculum to ensure it matches the new requirements. Next, the DOE sent the majority of state plans back for revisions, which in turn required states to alter their new report card indicators and thus, requiring schools to go back and review their curriculum alignments, again.
While many of the components of ESSA are pivotal in ensuring equity for all student populations, with the clear expectation of services for English Learners, students with special needs, at-risk populations, and other racial ethnicities, the focus on school grades and report cards, has trumped the individualization of student and community