I’m not a fan.
I do think we need to have a nation education reform. I do believe that there should be as much federal oversight as possible in the name of equity. I just happen to disagree vehemently with the folks who’ve been doing education reform on the state and federal level. This ping-pong politic where we think we’re making a dent by giving education back to the states makes me nervous, even in “blue states” like New York. If we keep ping-ponging the same thing, i.e. standardized testing and the deprofessionalization of the teaching profession, then ESSA is no different than NCLB, RTTT, or whatever acronym you’d like to throw in my direction.
Can’t trust it, folks. Those of you believing the media hype that No Child Left Behind is over are in for a rude awakening when your schools stay underfunded and your child overtested.