A New Education Law
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A New Education Law
The chosen school law is the Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA). The ESSA bill was introduced to the senate on April 30, 2015, by Lamar Alexander. On December 10, 2015, the bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The ESSA was intended to update and replace the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. Although NCLB was revised in 2007, its prescriptive requisites became more unworkable for educators and schools with time. With this in mind, the Obama administration in 2010 collaborated with educators and families to establish better legislation to ensure that each student is sufficiently prepared for success in college and careers. This new legislation was ESSA. The ESSA did not do away provisions that relate to the periodic standardized evaluations given to students. Also, the ESSA represents good news for schools in the country as it builds on significant areas of progress in modern days made possible by the efforts of communities, educators, students, and parents across the nation (US Department of Education n.d).
The ESSA has had significant impacts on public schools today. Firstly, the law has clear expectations from the education Stakeholders where states are required to engage in and provide evidence that is based on facts and consultations with a variety of other stakeholders in making major state-level decisions (Adler-Greene, 2019). This today has resulted in the unity and collaborations of education stakeholders from Principals, teachers, and support persons to other staff in providing quality education. The law has been of great benefit in that it has put states and school districts in charge. With it, there are new opportunities and flexibility, which enables the states to balance many decisions. Among the decisions allowed are that the states are permitted to design their school ratings and choose the criteria for determining the lowest performing rates. Consequently, this has led to an increase in the number of high school graduates. This has been translated to an increase in the number of students joining public colleges than before.
Also, With ESSA, public schools have been able to get more funds to finance school activities. This has been achieved through ESSA’s extended flexibility for funds that are invested in technical and career education as well as money directed towards transportation for students attending higher-performing schools (Office of Elementary & Secondary Education, 2020). The funds have helped in increasing the capacity of schools, states, and local communities. This has benefited all learners to have accessibility to a well-rounded learning and improved learning environment. Under the new budget, ESSA is funded at $17.5 billion for 2022 financial year, an increase above $ 1 billion in 2021 financial year. The funds have been utilized to improve accessibility to better school psychological services and improve public school safety (Aragon et al., 2016). Overall, with the impacts stated above, it can be inferred that ESSA provides a strong basis to expand educational opportunities and improve educational outcomes
References
Adler-Greene, L. (2019). Every Student Succeeds Act: Are schools making sure every student succeeds? Touro L. Rev., 35, 11.
Aragon, S., Griffith, M., Wixom, M. A., Woods, J., & Workman, E. (2016). ESSA: Quick Guides on Top Issues. Education Commission of the States.
Hess, F. M., & Eden, M. (Eds.). (2021). Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): What it means for schools, systems, and states. Harvard Education Press.
Office of Elementary & Secondary Education. (2022). What is the Every Student Succeeds Act? Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://oese.ed.gov/families/essa/.
U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). What is ESEA? Retrieved from http://blog.ed.gov/2015/04/what-is-esea/