Members of the State Board of Education are expected to get an earful this week on the implementation of a multi-faceted new federal education law that, broadly speaking, hands down greater powers to states.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), one of a scant few bipartisan measures passed by Congress in recent years, funnels autonomy over testing and what schools do with those results to states, rather than the federal government.
It comes after more than a decade of complaints that the previous federal K-12 law, the oft-criticized No Child Left Behind Act, centralized education reform in the federal government and the U.S. education secretary.
As Education Week noted in February, the new law’s more state-friendly principles may do just as much to limit the agenda of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos than any controversy surrounding her pick by President Donald Trump.
And the bipartisan-approved federal law has already prompted North Carolina K-12 leaders to review how they measure teacher effectiveness based on examinations.
Tuesday’s session of the state board will include an overview of the complicated new law, as well as a discussion by a panel of local district superintendents from across the state.
Policy Watch will keep you updated on the new law and its roll-out in North Carolina.
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