Every Student Succeeds Act Will Return Control to Our Schools

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last month I met with teachers, administrators, school board members, even educators in higher education that train our next generation of teachers and some graduate students who are in that program to discuss the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, which replaces No Child Left Behind as our Nation's elementary and secondary education law.

I was honored to be appointed by Speaker Ryan to the conference committee that was tasked with settling the differences between the House and Senate versions of ESSA to assure this legislation will prepare students for life success.

The ESSA reins in the unilateral power of the United States Secretary of Education and gives it back to the States and the local education agencies. It prohibits the Secretary from adding new requirements to State education plans, being involved in the peer review process, and exceeding his or her statutory authority. It also allows school districts to disentangle themselves from Common Core without penalty.

Additionally, the ESSA eliminates the controversial adequate yearly progress provision, paving the way for States to develop their own accountability systems. While the new law keeps annual standardized testing requirements for students in grade 3 through 8 in place to monitor progress, it eliminates most of the burden of testing on teachers and students and it sets up a process to further reduce even more standardized testing in the future.

While assessments for elementary schools must be the same for all public school students statewide, States may also choose. They have flexibility to offer nationally recognized local assessments at the high school level as long as the assessments are reliable, valid, and comparable.

In other words, a local education agency could use the SATs or ACTs to evaluate high school students instead of being held solely to tests mandated by the Federal Government.

Now, this flexibility should, could, and will be extended to career- and technical-education-focused students whose trade-specific competency is appropriately measured by the NOCTI performance test.

This flexibility will benefit our students and strengthen our overall economy. High school students will have increased access to pathways leading to careers in high-skill, high-wage jobs in technological industries.

The connection between education and our students' future careers is also enhanced by a provision in this law that encourages businesses to get involved with their local schools.

Schools will be able to apply for funds to provide apprenticeships that offer academic credit toward comprehensive career counseling.

Now, this was the result of bipartisan legislation I introduced with Congressman Jim Langevin aimed at informing school counselors of local labor market conditions so that they can best guide the decisionmaking process of these students and their parents.

Not only does ESSA lift overly strict testing requirements, it also ends the Federal mandate on teacher assessments.

States will be able to enact their own evaluation system in accordance with stakeholders, including teachers, paraprofessionals, and their unions. The structure of their system will no longer be tied to Federal funding as it was in No Child Left Behind.

ESSA provides flexibility in the use of Federal funding, allowing teachers and district administrators to finance priorities set at the local level. This commonsense provision restores control to those on the front lines of educating our students and our children.

The ESSA also calls for the United States Department of Education to study how title I funds are allocated. Now, title I funds are used to offset the impact of poverty, one of the leading influences in the academic achievement of our children. I have long been concerned that the children are put at a disadvantage based upon the population of the school district rather than the concentration of poverty.

This study is the result of an amendment I introduced, which gained the support of the entire conference committee responsible for merging the House and Senate versions of the legislation.

Title I funds are vastly important to students who are low income, disadvantaged, or who have disabilities. I am hopeful this study will make a strong argument for a more equitable distribution of funds for the areas which need them most. Funding must be based on student need, not a school district's ZIP code.

The ESSA is 4-year reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Feedback from those involved in educating our students is so essential to making the right changes to our education system, and I appreciate the feedback that came in this process as we succeeded in this reform.

Now, as these changes are put into practice, I want to hear from you. If a particular provision of the ESSA is having a great effect on your student or your school district, whether it is good or whether it is bad, Congress needs to know.

As the implementation of this new law begins, I will continue to travel across Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District, keeping our schools up to date on the change that was long overdue.

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