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BROKEN ARROW — State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister on Monday said the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act will ensure greater state autonomy over public education matters, and many changes are still in store.
At Broken Arrow High School, Hofmeister hosted the first of a series of required stakeholder input events at “EngageOK on the Road,” the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s annual summer education conference.
The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced the No Child Left Behind Act. It prohibits the U.S. Secretary of Education from requiring states to adopt specific academic standards, student assessments and teacher evaluation methods, among other policy issues.
Oklahoma recently completed a yearlong adoption of new academic standards in math and English/language arts that meet ESSA’s requirements that state standards be aligned with college and career skills.
Hofmeister said that leaves a great deal of work still to do in the areas of aligning Oklahoma’s standardized tests to the new standards and in overhauling its A-F school grade cards, which are the state’s federally required accountability system.
“This really gives us a new opportunity because our state Legislature came together with our school leaders and community members who said we really need new assessments,” Hofmeister said.
She was referring to Oklahoma House Bill 3218, which ended the state’s 5-year-old requirement for high schoolers to pass at least four of seven End of Instruction exams in order to earn a diploma. In the future, students in grades nine through 12 will take assessments in English, math, science and U.S. history only once in their four years of high school.
State officials used a live polling system so the 200 or so attendees could provide instant feedback to pressing policy questions.
For example, one question asked “How should we measure student progress toward meeting state academic standards?”
Live poll results showed that period tests known as “benchmarks” and college and career readiness tests such as the ACT were the two most desired student progress measurements, tying for 28 percent each. Respondents could select up to two answers.
Statewide standardized assessments and teacher-created assessments received 21 and 19 percent of the votes, respectively, while “other” was designated by 3 percent of respondents.
Hofmeister also sought comments about the question, and one teacher responded, “Smaller bites, so the kids aren’t as stressed trying to remember things they learned in August and we don’t have to spend a month reviewing the whole year.”
ESSA allows states to set a limit on the amount of time devoted to assessment administration for each grade, and Hofmeister said she is extremely interested in input on that topic before establishing a new state testing calendar for 2016-17.
She also warned that educators and parents should be prepared for much later state test results next year because of the elimination of the End of Instruction tests for high schoolers, plus the extraordinary amount of time and work needed to link the tests to Oklahoma’s new academic standards.
“We really need input about the testing calendar in this transition year because there are so many logistical considerations that need to be thought through for various schools and school sizes,” Hofmeister told the Tulsa World. “People need to understand we are not going to receive our test data back as early as you would like, but it will all be worth it.”
As for Oklahoma’s A-F school grading system, Hofmeister said ESSA requires school accountability measures to “meaningfully differentiate” within schools and different student populations.
For example, Hofmeister said, the achievement of at-risk student populations never before focused on — such as children in foster care — will be a new focus. She noted that ESSA also places “renewed focus” on outcomes for all children by requiring long-term goal setting for student achievement, better preparation of “diverse learners” such as English language learners, children with disabilities, migratory children, American Indian and homeless children, plus “two-way, meaningful communication between educators and families.”
