Washington state officials must demand better results from public schools now that Congress has given states more responsibility for student success.
PASSAGE of a new federal education law is a promising bipartisan achievement, especially for Washington’s U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, who spearheaded the effort.
Now, the onus shifts decisively to state officials, who must step up to a much greater role in making sure Washington schools live up to the aspirational name of the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The new law provides a reset for education policy that became divisive because of its reliance on high-stakes tests and penalties. The law it replaces, No Child Left Behind, had worthy goals — high standards and expectations for all children — but imposed harsh penalties on schools that didn’t meet annual test score benchmarks.
Those penalties took resources from schools instead of helping them improve. The old law’s overemphasis on test scores also tended to push schools to focus on test prep and disregard subjects such as arts, music and physical education.
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The new law gives states more flexibility in assessing student achievement beyond just test scores. That means state leaders must set clear goals for schools to show improvement in areas such as high graduation rates, college and career readiness, proficiency in core subjects and closing the achievement gap between different populations of students.
The state’s high school graduation rate rose last year to 78 percent from 75 percent. But Washington remains in the bottom third of all states; the national average is 82 percent. Washington’s rates were even lower for groups such as Hispanic and black students — 68 percent — and economically disadvantaged students — 67 percent.
Under ESSA, students must still take annual tests from third through eighth grade and once in high school. But the new law also includes more funding for programs that target specific groups, such as English language learners, special-education students, and those who live near military bases. Murray also fought to include more funding for early education programs, which help students get off to a better start.
That additional federal support will help, but again, the burden falls on states to carry out the mission of ESSA.
Gov. Jay Insleerefers to education spending as an investment, but he and other state officials must demonstrate to taxpayers that the investments are made in a way that actually improves results.