August Board of Ed: ESSA update

The backup is here; there's also a PowerPoint, which I'll see if I can get my hands on.

Rob Curtin and Matt Pakos
review of process to date

Pakos: peer review and department staff reviewed submitted plan
in July, DoE provided feedback; revisions requested; plan is to resubmit later this week
requested revisions around accountability and assistance system plan; additional details on some specific ESSA programs

Curtin: majority on proposed accountability plan      
main unresolved issue: MA wants to use the average scaled score; fed wants a measure of grade level proficiency
Wulfson points out that MA isn't alone in taking this position
Curtin: taking the full scale score shows full range of all students; "I think it's really easy to not focus on all students" if only use grade level proficiency
Wulfson: not clear they are taking this position as a matter of policy
"a little bit of a legalistic position that they're taking"
Peyser: depending on the measures being used "it doesn't matter how non-proficient you are"
"to the extent that students are getting, or bouncing around below the proficient level, it's not clear that they are prepared for college success"
"I think the emphasis is well meant"
Sagan: "I don't think they're trying to do the wrong thing, though there's sometimes plenty of evidence to worry"
incentives cause behavior
McKenna: averages always mask: "all you would need is a group of high performers to mask...an average number of students who have not reached proficiency"
Sagan: if what we want is a balance of both, why isn't the answer both?
Curtin: that's what we want to do, actually: have schools advance the average over time
"we just haven't made that convincing argument as of yet"
McKenna: consistent concern from DoE on gap closing
Curtin: haven't had any conversation with them so far on closing gaps

Curtin: had had a conversation at March meeting about an indicator of successful completion of broad and challenging coursework
a bit about weighting: we told you that we weren't submitting any weights with our plan
"in order for us to be reviewed, we had to submit weights"
weights are in accordance with our present system, "but they are not final" and will be revised under new testing/accountability system

And Rob Curtin made us a chart on the feedback on #MAEdu #ESSA plan on Accountabilty pic.twitter.com/gqz8X71PLO

— Tracy Novick (@TracyNovick) August 15, 2017

how to deal with schools without a minimum n size and with untested grades
still working on it

additional detail on schools that are in need of additional support (nothing new)