WASHINGTON, D.C.—Two Teach Plus teachers spoke about the need for strong accountability today at a roundtable preceding the Administration’s release of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the law’s accountability provisions. The NPRM will guide states in implementing ESSA’s provisions on measuring and reporting on schools’ academic progress – and calling for interventions when needed.
“My hope is that the new accountability system can drive equity, including equitable access to outstanding teaching and equitable access to rigorous coursework,” said panelist Laurent Rigal, a high school science teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School at Prince George’s County Public Schools. “Far too many of our low-income and minority students don’t yet have access to AP, IB, and other important opportunities. I hope ESSA will help change that.”
“All means all – and all students should count in every state’s accountability system,” said Raquel Maya Carson, a 2nd grade dual language teacher at Powell Elementary School in Washington, D.C. “All means all when it comes to parents too – and I hope states will make it a priority to share information about school strengths and weaknesses with parents in a way that is understandable and accessible.” Rigal and Carson were the only two teachers on today’s panel.
Carson and eleven other Teach Plus teachers who teach in high-poverty schools across the U.S. designed a model for a two-tiered school accountability system under ESSA, which was selected as one of the ten best in this year’s Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s Accountability Design Competition. The model includes academic and non-academic indicators of growth, along with “predictive” information to help schools improve performance.
“Teach Plus teachers advocated tirelessly for strong accountability measures in ESSA throughout the legislative debate over ESSA. We are pleased that today marks important progress towards meaningful accountability as the law is implemented in states,” said Celine Coggins, CEO and Founder of Teach Plus.
About Teach Plus
Teach Plus empowers excellent, experienced teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Teach Plus runs three programs designed to place teacher leaders at the center of improvements in policy and practice: Teaching Policy Fellowship, C2 Initiative, and T3 Initiative. The programs focus on demonstrably effective teachers who want to continue classroom teaching while also expanding their impact as leaders in their schools and in district, state, and national policy. Since its inception in August 2009, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 22,000 solutions-oriented teachers across the country. www.teachplus.org
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