社区黑料

Are we at war with North Korea yet? Goodness, what a time to be alive.

I was fumbling for a way to describe our present state the other day, and I hit on this: For guys like me, who dreaded of the Republican Party鈥檚 , 2017 is bittersour vindication.

As central norms of our democracy collapse, as our public institutions shudder under the weight of weak leadership, as the Republican Party demonstrates that the revanchism it in its electoral campaigns also precludes it from governing 鈥� it鈥檚 hard to take pleasure in being a successful doomsayer.

I mean, you get to be right! But you鈥檙e still just right about being doomed.

So it鈥檚 with absolutely no joy 鈥� none 鈥� that I say, when it comes to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), that replaced No Child Left Behind, I told you so. Back when ESSA was being drafted, I (with a few unpopular others) warned that it was too vague and decentralized too much authority to the states to meaningfully protect students鈥� civil rights. Specifically, I wrote, ESSA looked like “a clear system that serves the political needs of most members of Congress and protects a variety of special interest groups. It combines a thin veneer of civil rights equity with excruciating complexity and uncertain accountability. It takes a relatively simple federal accountability system, removes the teeth, and layers on a bunch of vague responsibilities for states.”

Folks told me that I was a killjoy, an uncompromising radical, a dinosaur in love with No Child Left Behind, that ghastly old thing. ESSA was a compromise, proof that lawmakers 鈥� in Congress, no less 鈥� could find a way to advance educational equity beyond a host of ugly debates about testing and accountability.

No, I said. I鈥檓 not trying to keep No Child Left Behind. I鈥檓 just taking the usual progressive stance: When it comes to civil rights, history is pretty clear. After the law passed, :

In short, and in sadness, I say to you, there鈥檚 a reason that civil rights battles are so often won at the federal level. It鈥檚 not that people in Washington, D.C., are particularly compassionate or uniquely empathetic. Rather, it鈥檚 that our system is set up in a way such that civil rights fights are hard to win at the local or state level. ESSA pushes many key decisions about equity and justice in education back down to those levels.

When it comes to voting rights, environmental protections, the criminal justice system, and basically every corner of public policy, the federal government remains the most reliable source of civil rights protection for historically underserved communities.

Why should we expect education policy to be ? Do we have any reason at all to to ensure that all children get the educational opportunities that they deserve?

(Read ESSA Essentials, a weekly series updating ESSA developments in every state in the country produced by 社区黑料 and the Collaborative for Student Success.)

Beyond closed doors, in private, ESSA backers would often concede this point. 鈥淏ut the politics,鈥� they鈥檇 moan. 鈥淪ure, it鈥檚 not going to work very well, but there鈥檚 just so much anger aimed at the Common Core and standardized tests. We have to lance that boil somehow, and this is the best we can do.鈥�

鈥淎t least the law will force more schools to pay attention to English learners,鈥� they鈥檇 say. 鈥�?鈥� It is. But I warned that ESSA鈥檚 English learners provisions were too vague and weak to focus any serious attention on these students. And look, lo and behold, it appears that the state of Florida 鈥� 鈥� these students鈥� progress learning English toward schools鈥� accountability scores.

They鈥檇 also pick odd, minor provisions that they especially liked about the law. I must have had a version of this conversation at least a half-dozen times …

ESSA Cheerleader: 鈥淗ush! ESSA still requires states to do something different with their lowest-performing schools, even if it doesn鈥檛 require anything specific.鈥�

Conor: 鈥淗a! Why should we trust states to make any tough decisions about what to do with those schools?鈥�

ESSA Enthusiast: 鈥淏ut the law requires them to use evidence-based interventions!鈥�

Conor: 鈥� 鈥楨vidence-based鈥� is a fig leaf, a flimsy bit of verbal dross gracing over the fact that ESSA allows states to use hundreds of millions in federal education dollars for whatever they want.鈥�

ESSA Defender: 鈥淣uh-uh, the law defines 鈥榚vidence-based鈥� very, very carefully.鈥�

Conor: 鈥淚t does! But definitions like that are only as powerful as the public鈥檚 ability to enforce them. No Department of Education is prepared to force states to comply with the details of that definition. And even if ED wanted to play hardball, it wouldn鈥檛 have the capacity to pull it off.鈥�

Now, here we are, about two years after ESSA鈥檚 passage, and lo and behold, the education reform community is 1) that bothering to follow the law, 2) that the administration , and 3) that the law鈥檚 vague equity provisions aren鈥檛 translating into anything meaningful.

Some of the law鈥檚 most bedraggled cheerleaders raise their weary heads to insist to me that the law would have worked just great and been perfectly fine, if only the Republican Party hadn鈥檛: 1) taken back the White House, 2) maintained control of Congress, 3) revoked the law鈥檚 accountability regulations, and/or 4) been led by a movement of angry revanchists.

Ok, sure. And building an apartment complex made of toothpicks would be great and perfectly fine, if only real humans weren鈥檛 planning on living in it. If your educational equity and civil rights provisions only work when equity-minded Democrats control the government, they鈥檙e not very good provisions.

So, at an Oct. 3 congressional hearing, lawmakers complained that ESSA鈥檚 vaunted 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� requirement is no longer referenced in the forms states use to explain how they鈥檒l hold underperforming schools accountable. I鈥檓 looking forward to hearing from the crew of ESSA Apologists how we can still count on Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to force states to comply with that section of the law at some later, undetermined date.

In the meantime, I鈥檒l keep reading ESSA plans 鈥� and watching for a glimmer of hope on North Korea 鈥� hoping against hope that I鈥檓 wrong. Unpleasant as that is, it beats the heck out of the alternative.

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