Looking into “Promise to Practice”: A Recent Review on States’ Efforts toward School Improvement
A review of the efforts towards school improvement in 17 states was recently released by the Collaborative for Student Success in partnership with HCM Strategists to evaluate states as exemplary, strong, adequate, needs improvement, weak, or not available.
As a matter of biblical justice in ensuring that students in our nation’s public education school system are succeeding, the The Faith and Education Coalition and the Leadership Advisory Council are currently examining the report to highlight issues near and dear to our community of faith such as issues dealing with equity, English Language Learners, students with special needs, and students of color, and we look forward to providing our comments to this discussion in the following days.
Why only 17 states? According to the report, “after three years and a quarter of the way through the school year [after ESSA implementation], only 17 states are ready to identify and support their lowest performing schools.” Those states include: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
School improvement is one of the most challenging and long-term projects for states and districts to implement, but it must be done if we are to move forward in closing the achievement gaps for Hispanics, Blacks, and other historically marginalized communities. We applaud the efforts taken by those at all levels in the public education school system – teachers, administrators, board members, and legislators – but we also want to make clear that we are here to hold us all accountable to the task at hand: ensuring all students graduate high school college or career ready. That’s the promise, is it being put it into practice?
Read the full report by clicking here. I would love to hear your thoughts.
The Rev. Girien Salazar
Director, Faith and Education Coalition
