What Educational Leaders Should Know About Teacher Policy Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

• In Event: 68.035 - Federal Policy as Teacher Policy

Abstract

Purpose. This paper offers an analysis of teacher policy within the Every Student Success Act (ESSA), providing concrete ways for educational leaders at the state and district levels to improve the teaching workforce within their jurisdictions under the new law. Passed in December 2015, ESSA is the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). We place ESSA within the context of other large federal policy efforts to improve teacher quality including No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Race to the Top (RTTT) and ESEA waivers.
We address three research questions in this analysis:
1) How has federal teacher policy evolved?
2) How does ESSA address issues of teacher quality and equity?
3) What affordances or constraints does ESSA provide educational leaders in improving teacher quality?
Perspective. A policy feedback framework is used to evaluate shifts in federal policy and its impact on creating new politics (Mettler, 2002; McDonnell, 2009). This framework helps understand the trends in teacher policy over time, and how previous policies changed perceptions about teachers.
Method. Using qualitative content analysis of relevant policy documents, we describe how each of these federal policies targeted teacher preparation, certification and evaluation, and the teacher labor market more broadly. Lastly, we provide concrete ways for educational leaders to most effectively implement ESSA to improve their teacher workforce.
Data. The primary data used are the ESSA and NCLB laws, and the RTTT and ESEA waiver public documents released by the U.S. Education Department (USED). We also draw from the state RTTT applications, and communications between state education officials and the USED. Similarly, we use public letters between federal and state officials during ESEA waiver negotiations.
Results. We find that the federal government has changed its teacher policy focus over the past fifteen years. NCLB focused on teacher equality by establishing a highly qualified teacher provision (HQT) that assured a minimum level of qualification for teachers. RTTT shifted the focus of teacher quality from inputs (e.g. credentials) to outputs (e.g. student performance), by incentivizing states to incorporate tests scores into teacher and principal evaluations. ESEA waivers extended this policy by mandating tying teacher evaluations to student learning outcomes and growth. ESSA, a 129-page law (using the word teacher 337 times), shifts the focus from equality to equity by stating that districts must report the distribution of highly effective teachers. Thus, ESSA expands the federal focus to distribution, rather than individual attributes or performance.
Significance. The research literature on NCLB and teacher evaluation under RTTT makes clear that these policy decisions have considerable consequences for teacher labor markets, classroom instruction, and student learning (Loeb, Kalogrides, & Beteille, 2012; Blazar & Kraft, 2015). Educational leaders need to know the important shifts in teacher policy so they can effectively recruit and support teachers. This paper explores concrete implications for how educational leaders can implement ESSA. Future research can also take advantage of this theory-based, longitudinal analysis to assess the intended and unintended consequences of ESSA on building an effective and equitable teaching workforce.

Authors

• Andrew Saultz, Miami University - Oxford

• John L. Lane, Michigan State University

• Min Sun, University of Washington - Seattle