Obama signs No Child Left Behind replacement into law

It is a rewrite of No Child Left Behind, called the “Every Student Succeeds Act”.

No Child Left Behind had been criticized for using a one-size-fits-all approach to fixing poorly performing schools. High standards, accountability, closing the achievement gap, making sure every child is learning and not just some.

In his remarks, Obama stated that No Child Left Behind had the right intentions, but in practice often fell short. “We’re having our discussions with Harrisburg instead of Washington, D.C. and I think that’s a step in the right direction”, said Old Forge School District Superintendent John Rushefski.

ESSA gives states greater control over education decisions and how to handle underperforming schools.

“They’ve said, ‘States – you decide what it takes for a teacher to be certified and in a classroom.’ And in a state like ours, where we’ve got a thousand teacher shortage, we need that flexibility”, Owens said.

There really was a broad recognition across the ideological spectrum that No Child Left Behind was unfortunately leaving most of our students behind.

Public Health New Mexico spoke to U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, who supported the bill, about what the changes mean for our state.

It is hoped that the new law, as it unfolds and is implemented in the states, will result in more experienced teachers staying in teaching rather than leaving in frustration over disputed methods, policies and testing regimens.

“The Every Student Succeeds Act unfortunately continues to propagate the large and ever-growing role of the federal government in our education system-the same federal government that sold us failed top-down standards like Common Core”, said Sen.

But it does allow state and local officials to set their own education standards.

Under ESSA some tests remain: 3rd through 8th graders test in Reading and Math and once in high school.

Provide more children access to high-quality preschool.

Under the new law, states, not the federal government, will have most of the say in how to assess students and hold teachers and schools accountable for performance.

The new law will let teachers find each student’s strengths and weaknesses and what works for them to succeed. It stated that schools at the bottom five percent of assessment scores, high schools graduating less than 67 percent of students, and schools where subgroups of students are struggling would be deemed failing and could be targeted for state takeover.