How you can advocate for an Opportunity to Learn index to be included in the new NY accountability system!

In December of 2016 President Obama signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced NCLB and requires states to develop a new accountability system for their schools.  ESSA mandates that schools be rated mostly on academic factors, including test scores and graduation rates. But it also allows the inclusion of a non-academic factor that would assess school quality in a more holistic way. 

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is currently circulating a survey soliciting feedback from the public on what “school quality indicator” should be included in our state’s ESSA accountability system.  Class Size Matters and NYS Allies for Public Education have proposed that an Opportunity to Learn (OTL) Index (here and below) should be included in the new accountability system.  

Our Opportunity to Learn Index incorporates evidence-based factors proven to work to improve student outcomes, and that most parents want to see in their children’s schools, such as smaller class sizes,  arts education, and low teacher attrition and student suspension rates. The NYSED survey  mentions an Opportunity to Learn option, but includes only a few of its potential components. Instead, many of the options on the survey involve mostly academic, test-based factors. Not only are these factors redundant (they are already included in the other indicators), they do little to address the conditions that must be offered our students for true and meaningful education to occur. 

Please complete the state’s survey by March 20th, and also consider attending a regional NYSED ESSA meeting to have your voice heard.  The times and places for the NYC meetings are below, as well as the web address to RSVP. 

Here are some of the factors  that we include in our OTL index and we urge you to mark “Support” in the survey:

●       #2. Chronic Absenteeism

●       #7. Student Attendance

●       #15. Student Suspension Rate

●       #17. Teacher Attendance 

●       #19. Teacher Turnover

●       #23. Parent and Community Engagement

●       #34. Student access to arts education

●       #35. Student access to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math

●       #36. Student access to early learning programs

●       #37. Student access to a full educational program that includes Science, Arts, Music, and Physical Education.

In addition, we urge you to mark “Strongly support” # 22. Opportunity to Learn Indicators (e.g., class sizes; guidance counselors; many other possibilities) even though the factors mentioned here  are only a few of those we have included in our proposal.

The other options offered in the survey we do NOT support because:

●       They are academic and/or test-based, especially since the rest of the accountability system will be based on these factors, or

●        They are too hard to objectively measure or

●       They would tend to violate student privacy (as in tracking students’ post-secondary outcomes).

What Can YOU Do?

1. Please take the NYSED ESSA survey NOW. Survey closes March 20th.

2. Please also share our Opportunity to Learn index with other parents and community members and discuss what you want for your schools.

3. Attend a regional NYSED ESSA meeting to have your voice heard. You can bring a copy of our OTL index with you to share.

Thank you!

 Opportunity to Learn Index for the NYS Accountability System by Leonie Haimson on Scribd

NYSAPE and Class Size Matters to NYSED re their accountability plan for schools: slow down! & consider our Opportunity to Learn Index

Here's a letter we just sent today to Commissioner Elia and the Board of Regents about the state's proposed Accountability plan for schools, required under ESSA. 

We urge them to slow down the process to allow for more public input and also to consider including an Opportunity to Learn index in their proposed plan.

 

August 26, 2016

MaryEllen Elia, Commissioner of Education

NYS Education Department

89 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12234

Dear Commissioner Elia,

New York State Allies for Public Education is a coalition of more than fifty parent and educator organizations from throughout the state.  Class Size Matters is a parent advocacy group focused on reducing class size, increasing parental engagement and strengthening student privacy.  We are submitting these recommendations as part of the public comment process for the state’s accountability system that NYSED is required by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to submit to the U.S. Department of Education.  Rather than fill out your survey with extremely constrained choices, we thought it preferable that we explain in more detail how we believe that the process of drafting the state’s plan should improve, and what we hope you will consider including in the accountability plan itself.

First of all, we strongly urge you to slow down the drafting of the state’s plan.  Most parents and teachers are not paying attention over the summer, and in order to fully engage their input, hearings and a more inclusive public comment process should occur over the fall and winter months before the State begins to draft its accountability plan.  The deadline for this Accountability proposal is not due until July 2017, therefore it would be best to take advantage of these months to hear from parents, educators and other stakeholder groups before drafting your proposal.  In addition, the final regulations are not expected to be issued by the US Department of Education until sometime in late October.  It is unwise to try to draft even your initial proposal until all concerned have had a chance to read and analyze these regulations.

Second, we believe that the state’s apparent intention to draft a system based on a particular notion of “effective schools” is excessively vague and would be impossible to objectively assess.  Factors such as “visionary instructional leaders”, “cultural responsiveness” and “engaging curricula” are all important, no doubt; but are very difficult to measure.  We are also apprehensive that other factors, including “curricula…tied to appropriate formative and summative assessments, which are aligned to State learning standards” may lead to even more testing, detracting from the learning environment.

Instead, we suggest you consider adopting a system based on “Opportunity to Learn” index, with evidence-based factors that have been tied to better learning conditions, are discrete and measurable, including but not limited to class size, suspension rates, teacher experience levels and attrition.  Many of these factors are already reported to NYSED for the purpose of completing the state report cards.  We attached a list that we believe should be included in such an index, and that parents in our networks consider essential to providing their children with a quality education.

It appears from the survey that NYSED may be contemplating adopting some sort of “Opportunity to Learn” index when they intervene in struggling schools, but it seems preferable instead to encourage schools to provide their students with the conditions for success before they slip into the struggling status.   What gets measured and reported in the state’s accountability should be those factors that help our children learn and thrive in the years to come.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa Rudley, Executive Director – New York Allies for Public Education

Leonie Haimson, Executive Director - Class Size Matters

Cc: Board of Regents

Attachment: Opportunity to Learn Index