Idaho State Board of Education discusses “Every Student Succeeds” federal education act

“Every Student Succeeds.”

That’s the newest federal education act that all states have to implement by the 2017-2018 school year. It was a main topic of discussion on the Idaho State Board of Education meetings at Idaho State University on Thursday.

At the meeting, the board approved a possible framework of how to implement the education act across Idaho. It looked at how best to measure ISAT tests and how to improve frequent absenteeism in students.

The board has been working on this plan for seven months. Now that there’s a framework in place, the board wants public input.

The board wants the public to decide what levels of growth and performance are most reasonable for students in our state.

The board will make changes based on public input before trying the new framework this school year.

“While this is an initial approval and it is a framework, we’re really counting on Idahoans all over the state to help us fill in this framework to have a measurement system that allows us to look at our schools, examine our schools and see how we can improve our schools to the benefit of all Idahoans,” said Blake Youde, chief communications officer for the state board.

After the 2016-2017 school year, changes will again be made to improve the framework, based on what worked and what didn’t during the school year.

From there, it will head to the state legislature for approval.

At the meeting, the board also decided to keep the ISAT test being given to 10th graders rather than changing it to 11th grade. Because of the college entrance exam given to most 11th graders, the board felt those tests could conflict with scheduling.

The board also discussed possibilities to help fix the teacher shortage. Youde said this is an on-going discussion that the board is working on.