Did you know there is state and federal legislation that directly impacts your world as a literacy professional? Whether you are the literacy leader at your school, or a teacher working with students, it is helpful to know a little bit more about the legislation that exists, and impacts, your world. Let me take you on a journey through the national, state, and more local legislation that impacts literacy learning.
Federal Legislation
For so long, No Child Left Behind was the phrase that inspired fear and mockery alike. However, lots of people don’t realize that this education act has been replaced. In 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA), turning over a new leaf for education legislation at the national level. The ESSA reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as well as providing new opportunities for growth and improved educational outcomes.
The ESSA requires states to develop rigorous standards for achievement and to administer annual tests aligned to these standards. The state has the freedom to choose these standards and the assessment exists to communicate whether or not children have met these standards by the end of the school year. As an educator, this confirms the importance of knowing the state standards and progress monitoring student success in relation to these standards throughout the year.
States are able to develop their own accountability system for public schools. ESSA also grants flexibility to the inclusion of ELL students within this accountability system, acknowledging the time and energy needed for ELL students to develop English proficiency. States still release annual report cards about the health of a school. This information is made available to parents when making decisions about schooling for their children.
As a charter school educator, I thought I would include what ESSA has to say about charter schools. Charter schools are free, public, choice schools. Under ESSA the federal government can award grants and providing funding to eligible charter schools.
Here is the parent information PDF about ESSA. I have found this is the most simplified, helpful guide out there regarding this law.
Minnesota Legislation
Let me tell you a little bit about Minnesota Statute 120B.12 (2018). This statute calls for reading proficiency no later than the end of third grade. As a third grade teacher, this legislation is particularly meaningful to me. Here is what the statute states:
“The legislature seeks to have every child reading at or above grade level no later than the end of grade 3, including English learners, and that teachers provide comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction”
Schools are required to identify, prior to third grade, students who are not reading at grade level. Schools are required to report this information, including to parents of these students at least once a year. Schools are encouraged to provide individualized intervention plans to help these students reach grade level by third grade. School districts need to provide staff development and create literacy plans in order to help meant this goal.
You might be asking, why is third grade such a big deal? According to an article by the Huffington Post, “data shows that children who cannot read by the third grade are four times less likely to graduate than students who can read by that age” (Fisher, 2016). They have the data to back it up. Further digging led me to this PDF, and the results are staggering. Third grade really does matter.
Minnesota Department of Education
As a public, charter school teacher, it is important for me to know what the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has to say about all this legislation.
Like all states, Minnesota needed to submit an ESSA plan, and 2018 – 2019 is the first full year of accountability. Here are a few highlights from the plan:
- Minnesota will continue to administer the MCA assessment, which has been aligned to the most recent state standards.
- The aim is to have 90% proficiency in reading and math by 2025, in order to significantly reduce the Achievement Gap
- Minnesota will still work for school readiness as well as college and career readiness
- Schools need to provide evaluation of teachers in order to identify effective versus ineffective teachers
These are just a few things highlighted in the plan. The plan also goes into detail regarding how schools will be evaluated and how and why additional support will be given to different struggling schools.
Resources:
Every students succeeds act Minnesota state plan executive summary. (2017). Minnesota Department of Education.
Fisher, O. (2016, September 07). Why third grade may be the most decisive year in a child’s education. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pivot-point-why-third-grade-may-be-the-most-decisive_us_57c740f4e4b0b9c5b7365945
Mrs. Murray's Mind 
Clare,
Thank you for highlighting the main parts of the federal and state requirements in regards to literacy. It is interesting to read and good information to have especially us third grade teachers. Although I try not to let the pressure get to me, it is always something I have in the back of my mind. I am still not convinced the MCA test is a meaningful piece of data, but for now, I guess it is what we need to do.
Liz
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Thanks for discussing the flexibility states have within their accountability system. I recently learned of the flexibility that ESSA grants to multilingual students. I think it is a positive that English Learners who recently arrived to the US (within the last 12 months) either may not have to take the state mandated assessment or if they do their scores won’t be reported. When a school’s scores are being reported, states can also have flexibility in how scores of former EL students are reported. Although these students have attained English proficiency recently, schools can report these students’ scores in a subgroup of English Learners for up to 4 years.
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Great job highlighting the data surrounding why 3rd grade is “the year” – solid summary!
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I’m glad you included the “Double Jeopardy” article- even a quick look at the first few pages provides plenty of sobering statistics. Third grade really is an important year. Thank you for laying out some of the highlights of the Minnesota plan. I wonder how much variation really exists between state plans.
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The research does show that third grade is a pivotal year in which students must be reading by grade level. Thank you for sharing the interesting article.
Interestingly, the Minnesota Department of Education (https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/prof/) described how the common saying that kindergarten through third grade students are learning to read and then in fourth grade students shift from learning to read to reading to learn can be unproductive. The MN Department of Education went on to describe how learning to read does not end in third grade because texts become increasingly difficult and new skills and strategies are needed. Likewise, they described how students will be far behind if they are not introduced to comprehension strategies until third or fourth grade.
Interestingly, at a recent training at my school from Duluth Core Learning (https://www.duluthcorelearning.com/), a statistic was shared that 92% of beginning first graders who lack phonemic awareness will fail at learning to read, except by memorizing words. For students to be reading proficiently by third grade, the work must begin much, much earlier. I found this interesting link from Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/helping) that leads to a variety of articles and resources for helping struggling readers in a variety of areas.
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