The impact of early childhood education is undeniable. Yet access to high-quality early education across the country remains uneven, and many children still enter elementary school unprepared.
After submitting their plans for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2017, states face challenges in ensuring the implementation of their plans keep faith with the spirit of ESSA.
The Every Student Succeeds Act gives state boards of education an opportunity to reevaluate, improve, and align education policies to student learning standards to drive a comprehensive system of improvement for all schools.
State boards of education must think more systematically about how charter schools fit into their overall vision for education and offer guardrails for decision making.
As they look to the future of schools, state boards of education must ask the “what if” questions necessary to shape policies that can help ensure students have the opportunities to enter their own futures with confidence.
Data collection is a tool that serves states’ students, educators, and policymakers. States must learn to leverage “the power of data” in education while fulfilling the obligation to protect student privacy.
Given the policy reset reflected in the newly minted Every Student Succeeds Act, state boards of education now face greater responsibility for assessments and determining their role in state accountability systems.
State education policymakers viewing the school landscape may at first see nothing but a vista that calls for thoroughgoing redesign. However, there are many ways to make sure those who teach and lead our children are better prepared and better supported to do their jobs well.