How far will States go to ditch Obama-era education policies?

One of the biggest questions that loomed after the president recently signed new federal K-12 education legislation into law was how long it would take states to begin making use of their newfound educational freedom to improve the way they examine students, evaluate teachers/professors, or strengthen their worst schools.

The result came just four days later, as the New York Board of Regents voted on Dec. 14 to delay the use of student test results in their teacher evaluation procedure for 4 years.

That policy is the heart of the Obama administration’s education agenda, although the new education law is not going into effect until the2017-18 school year. That process began in earnest Friday with the department publishing inside Federal Register a “Request for Information,” the formal process for seeking out advice and suggestions from education stakeholders on how certain parts of this law should be enforced.

Also in a “Dear Colleague” letter mailed to states on Friday, the department emphasizes that while the waivers that states currently run under will be terminated in August of 2016, it “expects” them to meet all their waiver obligations throughout the 2015-2016 school year.

“Starting in August, the new law rightly gives states and school districts new flexibility to tailor their own strategies and interventions to meet the needs of students and schools,” Duncan wrote in the letter to states. “At the same time, the law also maintains the department’s clear responsibility to work with state and local partners to ensure the effective use of taxpayer funds to improve educational outcomes for more than 24 million low-income and minority students in high-poverty schools across the nation.”

But it’s unclear what enforcement mechanisms the department has.

“The reality is that there’s no more federal leverage for that,” said Noelle Ellerson, associate executive director for policy and advocacy at the American Association of School Administrators, discussing on a panel Thursday hosted by conservative-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

There are something states cannot outright duck: For example, states cannot entirely shed their latest accountability system. States are usually not allowed to prevent testing students or shirk their efforts to go around low-performing schools.

“John King and his team have an unenviable task,” said Claire Voorhees, director of K-12 improvement with the Foundation for Excellence in Education and the new acting education secretary. “On one hand, the letter of the law has some quite distinct and unprecedented restriction on what they can do. On the other hand, in creating those restrictions there is also a lack of clarity in the law.”

In the future, the Education Department said it plans to consider feedback from stakeholders and strive to provide clarity and direction about the transition to the new law. Furthermore, the department will hold two public hearings in January to get feedback on the transition.

On Thursday, Oklahoma followed in New York’s footstep by trying out its teacher evaluation system. Whilst not entirely pulling back on the inclusion of student test scores, the state education board okayed new choices for how districts can measure student progress as part of their teacher evaluations.

“It will be up to the states to decide how they want to tweak, weaken or jettison their accountability systems,” said Voorhees. “It will be a really interesting process to watch, given the political makeup of states. And when you pull that string, what other things will unravel or will be strengthened?”