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The New Mexico Public Education Department is currently in the process of amending our state’s ESSA plan and we need your help to provide feedback on the proposed amendments.
What is ESSA?
Signed into law in 2015, The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a landmark federal education law that requires all states to develop and implement a plan specifying how they will comply with federal requirements regarding accountability, student growth, and school improvement. New Mexico’s ESSA plan was initially approved on August 9, 2018, and amended on March 13, 2020, to accommodate waivers granted to the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When it was first created, New Mexico’s 2018 ESSA plan was praised as a potential model for other states based on the plan’s clear overall school ratings, meaningful accountability indicators, and aggressive interventions for low-performing schools. The plan also received recognition for its strong focus on student growth. You can read more about the strengths of the original plan here.
What is Changing?
Through this amendment process, the New Mexico Public Education Department is making many changes to the original plan, including major alterations to our state’s accountability system. You can read about the amendments on the state’s website. Our team has reviewed the changes and these are our top concerns:
- Purpose Of Amendments: New Mexico’s previous plan was rated one of the best ESSA plans in the country. Though we acknowledge some changes are needed to comply with complications from the pandemic, we are concerned by the dramatic changes being proposed to a plan that was once considered a model for other states.
- Difficult to Understand: In total, the proposed amendments are 115 pages. Unfortunately, there is no redline version that clearly shows the changes being made to the original plan. This makes it challenging to understand the context of the changes and compare the original plan to what is being proposed. Our team has spent substantial time trying to understand the changes, and we fear the way the information is presented makes it difficult for everyday stakeholders–including parents and families–to provide feedback.
- Lack of Transparency: With such major changes being made to our state’s accountability indicators, it is difficult for districts and schools to anticipate how these changes will impact their ratings. More work needs to be done to ensure the amendments have the same impact as the “clear overall school ratings” and “meaningful accountability indicators” found in the original plan. District and school leaders, teachers, parents, and families deserve a clear understanding of the new system.
Submitting Feedback
To collect feedback on the proposed changes, the Public Education Department created a survey. You can access the survey by clicking below. The survey offers a high-level overview of the proposed changes and consists of ten questions. The questions correlate to the changes made to each amended section of the plan. This may make it challenging to incorporate your high-level feedback. We encourage you to use the free response boxes to share your feedback with the NMPED, even if it does not directly relate to the question. Be sure to click “DONE” at the end of the survey to submit your responses. Please submit your feedback by Friday, August 2nd.