Further, ED’s guidance helpfully notes ways in which ESEA gives states the discretion and flexibility they need to update their accountability systems, as needed, to account for the unique challenges schools are facing at this time and to ensure students receive the supports they need. This fall will be the first opportunity for states to ensure their accountability systems reflect the additional resources students need as a result of the pandemic.
As ED reiterates in the guidance, the primary objective of state accountability systems this year should be to use these systems to direct resources and supports to the schools and students who have been disproportionately harmed-academically, socially, and emotionally-by COVID-19 and to continue these supports even after COVID-19 relief funds have been spent. By designating schools needing comprehensive, additional targeted, and targeted support, they become eligible for additional federal school improvement funding (i.e., ESEA section 1003(a) funding), and they should receive additional state and school district technical assistance to design and implement evidence-based plans to address lost instructional time and other student and educator needs. We appreciate ED’s draft guidance reiterates the critical ESEA requirements for states to identify schools in need of supplemental resources and differentiated support on a regular basis-including following the 2021-22 school year. Given uneven access to remote learning during COVID-19 school closures and interrupted learning time during the 2019-21 school years, assessment data and other indicators collected during the 2021-22 school year provide leaders with a vital tool to identify the districts, schools, and students that need substantially more resources because they have been affected most by the pandemic. These systems rely on comparable data from statewide assessments and other measures, such as graduation rates, measures of college and career readiness, and chronic absenteeism, to shine a spotlight on opportunity and resource gaps so that states can direct resources to the communities and students who need them most. One of those laws, the Every Student Succeeds Act, includes critical tools-statewide accountability, school improvement, and public reporting systems-to ensure districts, schools, and students that need additional resources and support receive them. These disruptions have disproportionately affected students of color, students living in poverty, students with disabilities, students learning English, and students experiencing homelessness.ĮD plays a key role in supporting states and school districts by providing funding, technical assistance, and guidance to clarify how they may implement vital federal laws aimed at protecting underserved students. We recognize the immense challenges that state policymakers, school district leaders, educators, families, and students face every day as they respond to the ongoing and evolving challenges posed by COVID-19. Department of Education’s (ED’s) request for public comments on its draft guidance, Frequently Asked Questions Impact of COVID-19 on 2021-2022 Accountability Systems Required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). As a collaboration of 59 national and state organizations seeking to advance educational equity and excellence through federal, state, and local policy and advocacy, the undersigned organizations welcome the opportunity to respond to the U.S.
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