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ESSA Essentials: School report cards, career readiness, and updates from Hawaii and Kentucky

essa-essenHere are the top ESSA-related stories you should know about from this past week:

1. Learning Heroes to unveil most effective ways to unveil model school report card.

Learning Heroes will host a research webinar on effective ways to “communicate school performance and accountability information to parents and guardians in a manner that is accessible and actionable” under ESSA. Learning Heroes worked with Edge Research to “conduct multiple focus groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews with parents across five states with the goal of creating a model school report card that is both ESSA-compliant and parent/guardian-friendly.” The team also “developed a customizable school report card prototype for state education agencies based on the research.” Click here to register.

2. How will states effectively measure career-readiness under ESSA?

As states continue to develop and refine their accountability systems under ESSA, Education Week examined whether states will be “able to adequately measure the ‘career’ part of” the college and career readiness “equation.” Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, noted that assessments tend to provide “almost nothing about whether a student will succeed in an occupation.” A handful of states are “starting to incorporate more accountability for career-related skills.”

3. Hawaii State Teachers Association concerned by state’s ESSA plan.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) is raising concerns over the state’s proposed ESSA plan. According to HSTA President Corey Rosenlee, “the ESSA plan, 80 percent of it, is still tied to test scores,” and they “still believe that it’s too much teaching for the test and too focused on standardized tests.” Hawaii’s public comment period concluded on May 18 and Lindsay Chambers, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said “the state is working out the details and going through feedback from the public.”

4. The Kentucky Chamber Foundation releases accountability and school performance guide.

The Kentucky Chamber Foundation released a guide to accountability and school performance in education under ESSA. The report highlights the state requirements for accountability and “points out that students have made strong gains in Kentucky over the past several years.” The report also found that the “state still has a long way to go to close achievement gaps and ensure that young people are prepared for college and the workforce.”

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About the Collaborative for Student Success

At our core, we believe leaders at all levels have a role to play in ensuring success for K-12 students. From ensuring schools and teachers are equipped with the best materials to spotlighting the innovative and bold ways federal recovery dollars are being used to drive needed changes, the Collaborative for Student Success aims to inform and amplify policies making a difference for students and families.

To recover from the most disruptive event in the history of American public schools, states and districts are leveraging unprecedented resources to make sure classrooms are safe for learning, providing students and teachers with the high-quality instructional materials they deserve, and are rethinking how best to measure learning so supports are targeted where they’re needed most. 

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