While we wait for Congress to decide on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), 6 school districts in California announced last Friday that starting in February 2016 they will go beyond evaluating student performance on standardized tests and will instead take a more holistic approach when evaluating their schools.
These 6 school districts are apart of CORE, a non-profit organization consisting of 9 California school districts, serving approximately 1 million students. During a California School Boards Assn. Conference in San Diego, CORE introduced their New School Quality Improvement Index (Index). This new Index was developed by a collaboration of the districts themselves with the help of education experts Stanford, Harvard, and other universities.
CORE’s new Index will not abandon student performance, instead they will give academic information substantial weight. In addition, CORE will measure “Social-Emotional & Culture-Climate indicators.” These indicators encompass how safe kids feel while in school, their self-control and social awareness, “chronic absenteeism, suspension/expulsion rates, and English Learner re-designation rates.”
CORE also hopes to eventually expand the Index by surveying students, families, and staff to better understand the environments that these students are learning in.
According to CORE, “[a]ll Indicators [sic] for the index are intended to be measurable, actionable and meaningful.”
Though CORE is made up of 9 school districts, only 6 of them will participate because they have collectively been waived from the mandates of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The remaining 3 schools still must comply with the federal laws.
Despite the wavier, the 6 school districts still have to produce a single score on school performance. Though CORE’s new Index will look at multiple factors when creating this single score, parents who are lucky enough to decide where they live based on these scores may still assess the single scores and “continue to fuel reductive school comparisons that drive things like real estate choices.”
The other 3 school districts within CORE may not have to wait too long to be included in CORE’s new Index. ESSA –currently being decided in Congreess — may help get them there.
ESSA passed in the House of Representatives on Dec. 2. It is expected that the Senate will also pass this legislation on Dec. 8, with the President’s signature soon to follow. ESSA will replace the controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) moving oversight from the federal government to the states, giving each state
“wide discretion in setting goals, figuring out just what to hold schools and districts accountable for, and deciding how to intervene in low-performing schools.”
It also will prohibit
“the Department of Education from imposing certain requirements on states or school districts seeking waivers from federal laws.”
Of course, ESSA has its opposition, but only time will tell whether giving states certain control will benefit California and the school districts like those that make up CORE. Time also will tell whether CORE is effective and should serve as a model for other school districts to follow. This is something that educators and parents alike will certainly need to keep their eyes open for.
