The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.

La Ley Cada Estudiante Triunfa (ESSA, por sus sus datos) fue firmada por el presidente Obama el 10 de diciembre de 2015, y representa buenas noticias para las escuelas de nuestra nación.Esta medida bipartidista reautoriza la Ley de Educación Primaria y Secundaria (ESEA, por sus cuentas de 50 años), la ley educativa nacional de la nación y el compromiso de larga data de la igualdad de oportunidades para todos los estudiantes.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, the main federal law for K-12 public education, aims to ensure all children get a quality education. The law requires that states hold public schools accountable for how students achieve. ESSA does give states flexibility—their accountability systems can measure much more than just test scores. 

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has established a new set of indicators to measure school performance. NYSED developed these indicators with the input of thousands of people statewide—parents, educators, and experts. The new indicators include:

• student academic achievement;
• student growth and school progress;
• progress of English language learners;
• chronic absenteeism; and
• for high schools, graduation rates and preparing students for college, career and civic engagement.

La Ley Cada Estudiante Triunfa, o ESSA, la principal ley federal para la educación pública K-12, tiene como objetivo asegurar que todos los niños reciban una educación de calidad. La ley requiere que los estados responsa sean responsables de la forma en que los estudiantes lo logran. ESSA da a los estados flexibilidad: sus sistemas de rendición de cuentas pueden medir mucho más que solo los puntajes de las pruebas.

El Departamento de Educación del Estado de Nueva York (NYSED) ha establecido un nuevo conjunto de indicadores para medir el desempeño escolar. NYSED desarrolló estos indicadores con el aporte de miles de personas en todo el estado: padres, educadores y expertos. Los nuevos indicadores incluyen:

rendimiento académico estudiantil;
crecimiento estudiantil y el progreso escolar;
progreso de los estudiantes de inglés;
ausentismo crónico; Y
para las escuelas secundarias, las tasas de graduación y la preparación de los estudiantes para la universidad, la carrera y el compromiso cívico.

ESSA requires that every state assess all students in English language arts and math each year in grades 3-8 each year and at least once in high school. While New York State does not have any laws regarding parents’ rights to choose whether their children participate in state testing, federal law requires that:

• States must ensure that 95% of students in each public school, including charter schools, participate yearly in required state assessments.

        o This applies to all student subgroups, which include racial/ethnic groups, English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners, low-income students, and students with disabilities.

• If requested, school districts and charter schools are required to provide parents with information on state or local policies regarding the rights of parents to choose not to have their children participate in state testing.

• States are not required to create or change any laws they have in place regarding parental preference on participation in assessments.