Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Education has taken a mixed approach to granting states flexibility in high stakes accountability measures for English language learners.
- Just one state, Florida, has received permission to incorporate the scores of ELL students only after they've been in a U.S. school for two years.
- Three states are still waiting to hear back, three states have had their waivers rejected, and one, Massachusetts, was only granted a partial waiver.
Dive Insight:
The Department of Education appears to be taking a slow and halting approach to ELL flexibility. States asked for a range of changes, from a one year testing delay in math from Rhode Island to separate performance metrics for ELL students in New York. Delaware, one of the states to receive a rejection, asked for what amounted to a four year accountability delay. A spokesperson for the department told Education Week that any requests must ensure that recently enrolled ELL students get the support and instruction they need to learn English and reach proficiency in content areas.
Some civil rights organizations have backed the department's approach, saying that if states wait too long to include ELL students in accountability measures, the students will be allowed to fall through the cracks.
"A one-year exemption [on accountability] is an absolute hard line for us," Leticia Bustillos, the associate director of the education policy project for the National Council of La Raza, told EdWeek. "It is concerning that one state was given a two-year exemption. We run the risk of not having enough timely information for us to take action for our students."
Of course, the waiver system itself is likely just a temporary fix, as ESEA makes its way through the congressional resolution process.