HAMLET — The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), approved by the U.S. Congress in December, is set to replace 2002’s No Child Left Behind law during the winter of 2016-2017. But what does it really mean for students, parents and educators in North Carolina schools?

According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s website, the law “…provides significant federal support for programs to serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade.”

The law requires ongoing accountability for how funds are used and maintains the rule that 95 percent of students must be tested. Language in the mandate ties the percentage of tested students to federal funding and discourages parents from opting their children out.

“I wish they would apply the 95 percent tested requirement for all tests administer(ed) at a school and not for each tested subject area separately,” said Cynthia Magee, testing coordinator for Richmond County Schools.

“In terms of testing, I hope ESSA will allow for additional measurements of student learning,” said Joyce McRae, principal of Fairview Heights Elementary School. “Right now, everything comes down to one test on one day. Instead, we should be looking at multiple measures of learning, like student portfolios and alternative assessments that have been streamlined into regular instruction, to gauge their mastery level.”

“It’s important that we reduce the overall number of standardized tests that we have in a school year,” said K-12 Math and Science Director Kelly DeLong. “Specifically, 8th grade math 1 students are required at this point to take two end-of -year math tests — the 8th grade math test and the math 1 test. And our feedback is to ask that it be combined into one test that adequately measures students.”

Dr. Wendy Kelly Jordan, principal at Rockingham Middle School, says students are more than the standardized tests they take once a year.

“We need to broaden the lens in which we view children,” she said. “They’re not just one test on one day. Instead, both qualitative and quantitative data should be examined when telling the student’s story as to what they have to offer.”

Jim Butler, principal of Hamlet Middle School, is not a fan of the one-test-tells-all approach to evaluating students’ knowledge.

“The emphasis on testing should instead be on growth,” he said. “We have to learn to more adequately incorporate where a student started and where they finished the school year. It can’t just be about their final test score of a 1, 2, 3 or 4.”

Dr. Cindy Goodman, superintendent of Richmond County Schools, did not speculate about the new law’s impact on students and educators.

“We don’t know how ESSA is going to ultimately look,” she said. “My feelings are that No Child Left Behind did far more good than bad, and one of the most important byproducts was to increase accountability and raise awareness of all student subgroups.”

A student subgroup, as outlined in NCLB, refers to a group of students sharing similar characteristics. Gender identification, race and ethnicity, and physical or learning disabilities are examples of criteria used to assign students to subgroups.

“Teachers will meet in three-hour professional development sessions each semester facilitated by the curriculum department,” said Dr. Jeff Maples, associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction “The focus will be on personalized core instruction for high student achievement. Teachers will expand their pedagogical skills in content areas related to the use of digital tools, instructional methods and grade-and-core-level rigor. Small group instruction and differentiated work stations will be areas of focus.”

Technology is expected to continue playing an important role, according to Maples.

“We will also provide additional training for our teachers and administrators at Richmond Senior High School to enhance our 1-to-1 Chromebook initiative,” he said. “Our goal is to support our teachers by delivering high-quality, open digital learning resources and content and using a wide range of devices and digital tools, including those related to new assessments. (And) using real-time data to personalize learning with technology to increase student engagement with families and other teachers.”

To read more about the new law, visit www.dpi.state.nc.us and type “ESSA” into the search box on the upper-right side of the webpage.

Reach reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673.

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By Melonie McLaurin

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