“Nothing to see here, move along now!” is the mantra of our state and federal bureaucrats with regard to the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, which replaced No Child Left Behind, or NCLB. If those voting on the 1,061-page bill bothered to understand the tightly woven bands of text, they would have realized education would become entangled in a mess resembling the Hydra. This will profoundly impact the next generation. Those charged with educational policy immediately reacted to this, right? Wrong.
We now know from Arne Duncan, President Barack Obama’s recently departed Secretary of Education, that the bill was written with a very sophisticated legal strategy to hide the true intent of the legislation. In a recent interview with Politico Pro, Duncan boasted, “embedded in the law are the values that we’ve promoted and proposed forever. The core of our agenda from Day One, that’s all in there — early childhood, high standards [i.e., Common Core]. … For the first time in our nation’s history, that’s the letter of the law.”
Under such conditions, one month per 100 pages might have allowed for proper examination and debate of the legislation. But the actual vote on ESSA occurred less than three days after its release.
Were children and their well-being even considered?
Alas, while there was no time for inspection, consideration, or reflection, there will be plenty for indigestion. We now have to cope with the reality of this massive new law.
Support for ESSA was heavily bipartisan, urged on by the owners of the Common Core national standards — the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers — and every other progressive education interest group in the country. Congressional delegates simply bought the deception these groups were crafting and selling. Why should they read the actual document? But many large groups and more than 200 anti-Common Core grassroots organizations, including groups in Maine, were adamantly opposed and tried to speak truth to power.
Maine’s bureaucrats have been no better than Washington’s. The State Board of Education was briefed by the Maine Department of Education on ESSA in December but heard only spin. In the recent department news release Dec. 11, Acting Commissioner Dr. William Beardsley admitted to a lack of due diligence. “We have not read the entire 1069 pages of the bipartisan law,” he said — the law is 1,061 pages. How can anyone give analysis of a document he has not read?
Beardsley also claims, “this is the first significant shift of public education authority from Washington, D.C., to the states and towns in a generation. It should provide Maine with more flexibility and innovation.”
This all sounds nice, but as with NCLB there is no real state power. There is no enforcement mechanism for states to bar the Secretary of Education from violating the law, as often experienced under Duncan.
The DOE avoids the facts when stating that the law will require “annual statewide assessment tests for all public school students.” What parents must know is the mandates regarding assessments will lock in Common Core-type standards and continue with intrusive, psychological profiles. These “brave new world” assessments are no more than unproven “brain maps,” tracking social and emotional skills, grit or growth mindsets that have no relation to academic knowledge. These assessments have nothing to do with academics.
The DOE further states that ESSA gives “states increased flexibility to design school accountability systems, school interventions and student supports.” In short, what “flexibility” it gives with one hand, it takes back with the other. ESSA heavily influences standards within the bill itself. In the first place, it requires state plans. These standards must be approved by the secretary, and they need to be coordinated with 11 different federal statutes, including the statutes governing workforce development and Head Start. We must comply; they are statutory requirements. It won’t matter what the secretary does or does not do.
Furthermore, ESSA requires that a state’s standards must align with higher education requirements and “career and technical education standards.” Thus, the standards must align to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. As for the higher education alignment, the requirements for community college and four-year universities differ greatly. Therefore, one might presume the least demanding higher-education requirement would be considered.
The method by which bills are passed, ruled by talking points and spun by bureaucrats and lobbyists is a slippery slope. The driving force behind these rush jobs is anything but honorable: Control and coercion rule. Maine’s ability to control its own destiny is being stolen because of federal overreach that is sold to us as just another lie.
Heidi Sampson of Alfred serves on the Maine State Board of Education.