This is from an op ed piece in the Savannah Morning News on Sunday January 3, 2016. Here is a link to the entire piece:

http://savannahnow.com/column/2016-01-03/michael-moore-public-schools-no-better-essa#

Here’s what you should know about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). President Obama signed the replacement to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the irony was lost on no one. NCLB was enacted with bi-partisan support to wrestle the control of schools away from states because the quality of education was inconsistent with no accountability. ESSA was enacted to wrestle control away from the federal government and restore accountability to the states because the quality of education was inconsistent and there was too much accountability.

Georgia will still get to feed at the federal trough. Curiously, we are loath to take federal funds for many programs, but we will take the $10 million coming to us because of our high poverty level. The new act recognizes states’ poverty numbers over overall population.

The new law also opens the door for more “for profit” entrepreneurial inroads into education through the expansion of charter schools and federal funding for a program known as “Pay for Success” where according to the Washington Post: “investors put money into programs and make profits when a specific goal is reached.” Interestingly, Goldman Sachs piloted such a program in Utah. Goldman made a profit on every child who went through the early childhood program who was not referred to special education. The program, not surprisingly, came into heavy criticism from education experts.

ESSA also opens the door for private venture philanthropists to become involved in teacher education programs by providing provisions for the establishment of non-traditional and more importantly non-university programs (think Teach for America). Many teacher educators think federal intrusion into the content and methods of teacher education programs is overstepping the government role, once again, in education. However, teacher educators had been able to duck the accountability sledgehammer until now. The Coalition for Teaching Quality made it clear that, “this option would create lower standards for teacher preparation, allowing teachers-in-training (without full state certification) to enter classrooms as teachers of record” on the basis of a for-profit teacher training certificate.

However, teacher education programs aren’t the biggest loser with the passing and signing of the ESSA. Opponents of high stakes testing viewed this reauthorization as a window of opportunity to undo high stakes testing and the test prep mindset.

Educators and parents have little political capital compared to testing juggernauts like Pearson and McGraw Hill. In 2002 with the passing of NCLB states spent $447 million on testing. Last year it was $1.2 billion. Georgia’s five-year contract with McGraw Hill signed last year was for $107.58 million. With this kind of money at stake, you can bet the testing companies had a place at the bargaining table.