Alliance for Excellent Education Releases K-12 Equity Report
On Thursday, which was the five year anniversary of the enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Alliance for Excellent Education released a new report titled “When Equity is Optional” examining the way states have used the federal K-12 education law to improve equity.
The report takes a look at states’ success in closing educational gaps, five years since the enactment of ESSA. It finds that states have had extremely disparate success and that gaps amongst key demographics persist. For example, Black and Latino students are more likely to receive a poor education than their White peers and minority students are still underrepresented in high-rated schools.
The report delivers a strong criticism of the way states have approached ESSA legislation, particularly since federal accountability has been halted during the pandemic. The report calls on state leaders to actively work on closing equity gaps and urges stakeholders to find ways to measure student learning so that already disadvantaged student populations do not fall further behind.