The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
Update on Every Student Succeeds Act: School & District Accountability System
As we discussed at the March and June 2016 meetings of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) establishes new requirements for school accountability and support which presents the opportunity to reconsider the design of our school and district accountability and assistance system. At the Board meeting on September 27, I will share ideas that were suggested by stakeholders as well as initial thoughts on revising the Massachusetts school and district accountability system for the 2017-18 school year.
Beginning in April 2016 and continuing into the summer, we consulted with a wide range of stakeholders to gather feedback on the commonwealth's current accountability system and potential changes to it. DESE staff is currently engaged in the "modeling" phase of the work, developing specific options in response to the feedback that we have heard. DESE staff will meet with stakeholders again later this fall to solicit further feedback before we finalize any specific plans. We will bring feedback and suggested revisions back to the Board at key points during the fall and winter leading up to our submission to the US Department of Education in spring 2017.
Senior Associate Commissioner Russell Johnston and other staff will join me on September 27 in presenting information on the accountability requirements under ESSA, a review of our stakeholder engagement activities, a synopsis of indicators under consideration to include in the system, our timeline for completing the work, and responding to any questions you may have.
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