Memorandum from Mary Kay Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D. District 3  School Board Member marykaymurphy@aol.com

September 30, 2011

No Child Left Behind and ESEA Flexibility

Four years after its authorization expired, the “No Child Left Behind” law appears to be unraveling, thanks in large measure to the concerns registered by teachers, parents, community members, and others around the country—and in Gwinnett County—with the negative impact the law is having on students, teachers, public education, local schools, and school systems.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has invited applications for waivers from provisions of the NCLB law to all fifty states. The waivers would take effect possibly as soon as the current school year, but certainly by 2012-13. Known as the ESEA Flexibility (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) system, the initiative will focus on creating academic growth and closing achievement gaps while relieving States and schools from obstacles in the legislation.

Reforming schools and preparing the next generation for success in college and career is urgent. Education and community leaders report that NCLB conflicts with achieving education reform in the following areas:

• 2014 Timeline. Give States flexibility around how they set their annual targets for schools and student subgroups;

• Federal Labels and Federally-Mandated Interventions: Waive requirements that schools will be labeled as failing for not making all of their Adequate Years Progress (AYP) targets. Provide flexibility around federally-mandated “one size sits all” interventions to give States and districts more flexibility to improve their schools.

• Limitations on Use of Funds: Allow more flexibility to use funds in ways that make sense by transferring funds between funding streams, while still protecting funds for the neediest students.

Secretary Duncan is acting because Congress is four years late in rewriting the law and 18 months late in providing reauthorization required by President Obama in his Blueprint for Reform. He is replacing the NCLB system with the ESEA Flexibility approach. 

Linked to academic programs that prepare students for success in college and careers, the waivers will provide flexibility for States to introduce local innovation aimed at increasing the quality of instruction and improving student achievement. 

When the waivers are granted, gone will be labels such as “Low Performing School,” “Needs Improvement,” and “Failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress.” In place of these will be “elevate the teaching profession,” “eliminate a single standardized test on a single day,” and “create academic growth while closing the achievement gap.” 

According to information from the U.S. Department of Education, flexibility will mean a change in assessment measures for students. By measuring student growth and critical thinking, new assessments will link teaching and student engagement across a well-rounded curriculum. 

Also, flexibility will mean setting academic standards based on college and career readiness. States will challenge students to make progress toward a goal that will prepare them for the 21st Century knowledge economy. 

Accountability will be required for all students, but no longer will a single test given on a single day be used as the yearly measure for students’ achievement and school evaluation. To ensure accountability, States will be required to improve their lowest performing schools and close achievement gaps.

For teachers, flexibility will mean an end to reliance on a single standardized test given on a single day as a measure of teacher performance and pay. Instead, accountability decisions will be made based on student growth and progress, as well as other measures of student learning and school performance. They will consider more than a single test score measured against an arbitrary proficiency level. 

States will begin to use multiple measures to evaluate teachers, including peer reviews, principal observation, portfolios, and student work. These improved evaluations will consider student growth to help focus on annual gains of students—and to recognize, reward, and learn from the schools and teachers that are accomplishing students gains in academic performance.

Parents and community members will benefit from the ESEA Flexibility system by no longer having local schools labeled as failing or needing improvement. Under NCLB, such labels were applied to total schools when only a limited number of students fell short on the once-a-year standardized test. When schools fall short under ESEA, school leaders will adopt targeted and focused strategies for the students most at risk.

In Georgia, State Superintendent John Barge and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson hand-delivered the State of Georgia’s request for a waiver from NCLB on the first day Secretary Duncan received such applications. The Georgia Department of Education prepared a plan for providing accountability for student performance and achievement through the ESEA Flexibility system. 

A key part of the Georgia plan is to keep a high bar to maintain rigorous accountability for all students, including subgroups of students. The Georgia plan is linked to the State’s College and Career Readiness focus that provides multiple measure of student growth and links teacher performance to student achievement.

We remain hopeful that Secretary Duncan and his peer review process will provide a response to the State of Georgia during the current academic year related to the request for ESEA Flexibility for the State’s 180 school systems and more than 1,600,000 public school students.

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