The Education Trust–New York offers comment on independent peer review of New York State’s ESSA plan

Dec 12, 2017 | Public Comment

The following statement can be attributed to Ian Rosenblum, Executive Director, The Education Trust–New York:

“This independent review of New York State’s ESSA plan provides a valuable national perspective on the state’s proposed accountability system.

We agree with many of the strengths in New York’s plan identified by the independent reviewers, including recognition of New York’s strong academic standards and assessments; the state’s decision to adopt “a relatively short list of high-quality indicators” for accountability purposes; the significant thought that has gone into the school improvement process; and the state’s robust stakeholder outreach during the ESSA plan’s development.

As New York moves into the implementation phase, the review also flags several issues that we continue to believe deserve additional attention over the next year, including: whether schools that are under-performing for any individual group of students will receive the attention and urgency they need to improve; the need for the state to take test participation rates more seriously for historically under-served groups of students; and the low threshold set by the state for schools to exit improvement status.”

The Education Trust–New York is part of a statewide coalition of civil rights, education, parent and business organizations that believes ESSA presents a vital opportunity to advance an equity agenda for all New York students. The coalition’s press release on New York’s ESSA plan can be found at this link.