Ohio’s ESSA Plan-Submission Delayed in Response to Public Feedback - National Council of Teachers of English

Reports

Ohio’s ESSA Plan–Submission Delayed in Response to Public Feedback


State: Ohio
Level: P12
Analyst: Holland, Robin/Columbus Area Writing Project

Ohio’s ESSA plan will not be submitted in April as originally

planned, but will be held until
September. This decision was announced the same day as Education Secretary
Betsy DeVos and Congress announced there would be greater flexibility for states
as they implement their ESSA plans.

Many of the requirements in the ESSA Act have now
been dropped, including the requirement to have input from parents and educators
and other stakeholders.

In Ohio, however, it was the feedback from those very stakeholders, according to Superintendent Paolo DeMaria, which led to the delay.See previous post related to Ohio’s ESSA Plan.

Fearing that the plan as written was divisive, and heeding the feedback, DeMaria stated the following in an open letter explaining the delay:

The submission of the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) response should be an event that unites us…In recent weeks, we’ve heard from stakeholders who feel their input was not reflected in the ESSA template.

Many stakeholders believed that the plan as written did not address concerns raised during feedback opportunities about testing, teacher evaluations, and accountability, as well as how data is collected to report on subgroups.

There was bipartisan agreement, for the delay, along with much relief from stakeholders.

Related articles:

http://radio.wosu.org/post/ohio-will-delay-submitting-plan-federal-every-student-succeeds-act

http://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2017/03/20/ohio_listens_and_delays_its_essa_plan__110130.html