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Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act in December 2015. ESSA is the main body of federal legislation governing public education.

Title I: Standards/Assessment/ Accountability/Educator Quality Standards

ESSA requires each state to establish challenging state academic standards in mathematics, reading/language arts, science and any other subject determined by the state, that are aligned with entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework in the system of public higher education in the state and relevant career and technical education standards. ESSA allows states to adopt alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities if they are aligned with the challenging state academic standards noted above and reflect professional judgment as to the highest possible standards achievable by such students.

Assessment

States receiving Title I funds are required to assess reading/ language arts and mathematics every year in grades 3-8, as well as one year in the 9-12 grade span (Texas currently requires students to pass Algebra I and English I and II end-of-course exams to graduate). States also are required to administer a science assessment annually in at least one grade in each of the following grade spans: 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. Texas meets these requirements. Note: USDE waived testing requirements in

2019-20 because of COVID-19 disruptions.

ESSA allows school districts to use locally selected, nationally recognized high school academic assessments in lieu of the state high school assessments, if approved by the state. However, the tests must be aligned with the state academic content standards, address the depth and breadth of such standards, and be equivalent in content coverage, difficulty, and quality to the state-designed assessments. They must also provide comparable, valid, and reliable data on academic achievement, as compared to the state-designed assessments, for all students and for each subgroup of students among all local school districts within the state. The Texas State ESSA Plan does not currently contain provisions addressing this. ESSA requires participation in the grades 4 and 8 reading and math sections of the National Assessment of Educational Progress provided that the federal government pays for it.

Student participation requirements

ESSA requires states to annually measure the achievement of not less than 95% of the students in the state on the required state assessments and to explain how they will factor the 95% participation requirement — both for students overall and for each student group — into their accountability system. Continued

The State ESSA Plan provides that a participation rate of less than 95% on statewide math and reading/language arts assessments will be included on the Closing the Gaps domain (the third domain in the state accountability system).

Special education students

ESSA puts a state-level cap of 1% on the number of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who can take an alternate assessment, which must be aligned with challenging state academic standards. However, ESSA also allows states to seek a cap waiver from the U.S. secretary of education. Texas was granted a waiver from the cap for 2019-20.

English learners

States must assess students in English who have attended school in the U.S. for three or more consecutive school years, unless the state determines, on a case-by-case basis, that administering assessments in another language would likely yield more accurate and reliable information regarding what the student knows, in which case they can do so for an additional two consecutive years. Texas chose to assess and report the performance of the student on state math/ELA assessments in the first year of enrollment in a school, but exclude the results of these assessments in the state accountability system in the first year; and include the results in the second year and beyond.

8th-graders taking high school math assessments

ESSA allows states to exempt any eighth-grader from taking the eighth-grade math assessment if the student takes an end-ofcourse exam that the state typically administers to meet the act’s high school math assessment requirements, the results of which are used for reporting on/accountability for the eighth-grade math assessment, and the student takes an EOC in high school that is more advanced than the EOC taken in eighth grade, the results of which are used for reporting/accountability for high school math assessment. Texas will require eighth-graders taking the Algebra I EOC to take the SAT or ACT in high school.

Accountability

ESSA requires that states adopt state accountability systems based on the challenging state academic standards for reading/ language arts and math, as well as on ambitious state-designed long-term goals for all students and separately for each subgroup of students. Texas uses Domain 3/Closing the Gaps of its 3-domain state accountability system to incorporate the accountability requirements of ESSA (for more information on the ESSA indicators in Domain 3, go to tcta.org/node/14730). Based on the performance of schools and subgroups in schools on the indicators, states are required to “meaningfully differentiate” public schools in the state on an annual basis. The state ESSA plan provides that the Closing the Gaps score will be computed based on a weighted average of the indicators computed from the number of items meeting targets divided by the number of items evaluated. Note: USDE waived

accountability requirements in 2019-20 because of COVID-19.

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Interventions

ESSA requires that states identify the bottom-performing 5% of Title I schools and any high school failing to graduate at least 67% of students for comprehensive support and intervention. For purposes of determining the lowest-performing 5% of campuses, the Texas State ESSA Plan provides that schools will be identified based upon their accountability rating in Domain 3 of the state accountability system as follows: the weighted average for Domain 3 will be scaled to grades and rank ordered to identify the bottom-performing 5% of campuses. ESSA also requires that states annually identify any campus with one or more “consistently underperforming” student subgroups under the accountability system for targeted support and improvement. The Texas State ESSA Plan defines “consistently underperforming” as having one or more student subgroups that do not meet interim goals for the Domain 3 indicators for three consecutive years.

Educator quality Teachers

One of the provisions eliminated by the Every Student Succeeds Act was the former NCLB requirement for all teachers of core academic subjects to be “highly qualified.” Instead, ESSA requires that state-submitted plans contain assurances regarding how the state will ensure that all teachers and paraprofessionals working in schools receiving Title I funds meet applicable state certification and licensure requirements, and a description of how low-income and minority children enrolled in these schools are not served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out-of-field or inexperienced teachers, as well as the measures the state will use to evaluate and publicly report the progress of the state with respect to the above. The measure that TEA uses to evaluate and publicly report the progress of the state equity plan for teacher excellence is the Texas Equity Toolkit (texasequitytoolkit.org). The plan provides that various strategies will be used to address equity gaps with regard to access to excellent teachers, as well as insufficient training and support for teachers. Strategies will include continued support of the implementation of the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (see pages 18-19) and the Educator Excellence Innovation grant program, as well as “lesson study,” an inquiry based, job-embedded professional development process where teachers work collaboratively to develop, teach, and assess research-based lessons.

Paraprofessionals

ESSA requires states to continue the same professional standards for Title I paraprofessionals that were in place under the No Child Left Behind Act. For more information on paraprofessional requirements, go to tcta.org/node/14730.

ACE schools 34 Administrative leave 22-23 Admission, Review and Dismissal committee 54 Appraisal 18-19 Assessment 37-39 benchmark tests 37 calendar 38 end-of-course 37-39 failure 38-39 promotion requirements 38-39 release of tests, details 39 schedule 39 security 39 special education students 38

STAAR 37-39 Bullying 42 Certification 13-16 by exam 13 continuing professional education requirements 13-16 criminal background checks/ fingerprinting 15, 30 exam 13 failure to maintain 15 out-of-field assignment 14 out-of-state/country 14 renewal 13-16 Charter schools 17 Child abuse/neglect 32 Class size 28 Continuing professional education (CPE) 13-16 Contracts 9 Corporal punishment 26 Criminal background checks/ fingerprinting 15, 30 Criminal conduct of students 50 Curriculum 36 David’s Law 42 Diabetes management plan 28 Discipline 26, 44-48, 52 Disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) 44-48 Districts of Innovation 34 District/campus partnerships 17, 34-35 Donation of surplus food 29 Drugs, psychotropic 28 Duty-free lunch 29 Electronic/social media 8, 20 Evaluation, teacher 18-19 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) 61-62 paraprofessionals 62 students 61 teachers demonstrating competency 61-62 special education 62 Fair Labor Standards Act 11-12 Family and Medical Leave Act 27 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 23, 24, 33 Foundation graduation plan 40-41 Government Pension Offset 57 Grading authority 24, 28 Graduation requirements 40-41 Grievances 22-24, 30 Head lice reporting 29 Health insurance 58-59 Immunity from liability 31 Inclusion 54 Individualized Education Program 52-53 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 51-53 Instructional day 25 Instructional materials 31 Internet use 8, 20 Job postings 30 Leave types 27 Legislative involvement 4-5 Limited English Proficient students 62 Mentor teacher 8 Military service 27, 57 Mortgage assistance 60 Nepotism 30 Nonrenewal 9 Nursing mothers 12 Nutrition policy 28 Overtime for paraprofessionals 11 Paperwork reduction 27 Paraprofessionals wages/rights 11-12 required qualifications 62 Parents complaints 7, 24 rights 33 Payroll deduction 31 Physical education 36 Planning/preparation 8, 23-24, 29 Pledge/one minute of silence 17, 28 Political activity/professional association membership 31 Principal, meeting with 23 Professional development 25-27 Professionalism 7, 23-24 communication with students 8, 20 electronic media/social networks 20 Promotion requirements (student) 38 Psychotropic drugs 28 Resignation 9 Restraint 53 Retirement — See Teacher Retirement

System Salary schedule 10 School board, communication with 30 School marshals 46 School safety 27, 49 School year (length, start date) 25 Sexual assault, harassment 42-43, 46 Site-based decision-making 6 Social networking/electronic media 20 Social Security 57 Special education students 51-54

ARD committee 54 assessment 38, 51 discipline 52 eligibility and referral for services 51-54 inclusion 54

Individualized Education Program 51-53

Individuals with Disabilities Education

Act 51-53 referral 51 restraint 53

Specific Learning Disability 51 STAAR 37-39 Staff development 25-27 State Board for Educator Certification 13-16 Students assessment 37-39, 61-62 code of conduct 50-51 corporal punishment 26 criminal conduct 50 diabetes management plan 28 discipline 26, 44-48 expulsion 45-48

Family Educational Rights and

Privacy Act 23-24, 33 parental rights 33 peer grading 33 promotion 38 records, confidentiality of 33, 51 relationship with peers 42-43 with teachers 7, 23 removal from bus 45 removal from class 44-48 search 34 sex offender 20, 46 special education 51-54 suspension 44-48 Threat assessment 49 Teacher Retirement System 55-57 calculation of benefits 56 contributions 55 disability 55 early retirement 55 health insurance 58-59 partial lump sum option 55 retire/rehire 56 service credit 57 standard annuity 55 Testing — See Assessment Texas Essential Knowledge and

Skills 36 Texas Examination of Educator

Standards 14 Texas Teacher Evaluation and

Support System 18-19 Textbooks 31, 33 Tuition aid (for teachers) 60 Use of force 26 What’s New 3 Windfall Elimination Provision 57