As an Educational leader in PK-12, it is important to make sure that legislative policies are implemented based on the laws provided. When enforcing these policies, educational leaders often receive pushback from various stakeholders. It is important that the reaction of the leader is in line with the overall goals of the policies and is professional. Their overall reaction should be based on their specific leadership styles, theories, and traits. In response to policies and legislation pertaining to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), educational leaders may focus on three specific policies including the following: the elimination of the Highly Qualified teacher mandate, ESSA Title 1 waiver policies, and the Special Education policy. The following work will discuss how a PK-12 educational leader uses specific leadership qualities to implement ESSA policies, while addressing the concerns of various stakeholders.
Elimination of the Highly Qualified Teacher Mandate
The previous No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy that enforced teachers in high academic areas such as Math, Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts, has been overturned with the ESSA policies. Teachers are no longer required to be considered “highly qualified” in these areas to work in the PK-12 system (Education Week, 2019). Due to the lack of success for the NCLB mandate, many states experienced a massive decline in teacher eligibility. This created a large number of job vacancies in academic areas of need. To combat this, the ESSA policy did away with the previous policy to increase the number of eligible candidates, while being able to lower the wages of the educators. With this, comes an influx of new teachers, with less experience, who may also be considered “out of field” if they do not have an educational degree. This may come as a concern for various stakeholders such as students, parents, community members, and higher education institutions. They may feel that students are not being properly prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce due to the lack of experience of the teachers. The best leadership trait one can use to address this issue is having strong communication skills. It is important for educational leaders to reassure stakeholders that all teachers will be properly supported and provided with professional development opportunities. A leader must express their passion and enthusiasm while being persuasive so that the stakeholders develop “buy in” to the new policies being implemented (Ho, 2019).
ESSA Title 1 waiver policies
Under ESSA, the previous NCLB waiver policies will be void. This leaves states and local school districts with the responsibility of supporting their “priority schools” and “focus schools” independently. The new ESSA federal grants will focus on creating competition among schools, supporting school wide programs by allowing states to waive the minimum poverty threshold normally required by law. This allows schools to provide specific programs to low-income students as well as entire schools with a low-income population no matter the overall socio-economic status of the students being served. This model is supposed to support all students rather than a limited number for students based on income level. Stakeholders such as students, parents, educators, and community leaders of lower economic schools may feel that the federal dollars should be solely allocated towards meeting the needs of the schools most in need (Education Week, 2019). Educational leaders can address these stakeholders by developing a clear vision and mission to express why it would be more beneficial to us as a whole if funds are consolidated to address the needs of all students, rather than only focusing on a smaller segment of students, while expressing empathy for the hardest hit communities (Ho, 2019).
Special Education policy
ESSA limits the number of students with disabilities that are eligible for taking alternative assessments. Alternative assessments are usually administered to students with cognitive disabilities. Students with other disabilities such as learning or attention disabilities are still expected to participate in the general education test. The overall goal is to limit the alternative testing to 1% of the student population, or 10% of students with disabilities. This change can impact the overall school grades which is often linked to federal, state, and district funding. It can also affect the level of antimony schools have if the overall grade is affected by low scoring students. This is often a concern for parents of students with disabilities, the student, special education teachers, general education teachers, special education advocates, community members, school leaders, and other stakeholders (Education Week, 2019).
In order to combat these concerns, school leaders should be innovative, fostering creativity and team building skills among all stakeholders. This will increase the level of support students with disabilities need to meet the standards. Leaders should implement co-teaching opportunities with general education and special education teachers through support facilitation to ensure that students with disabilities are provided with their specific accommodations. They should also provide a tired system of support through differentiation of instruction by scaffolding to support the varying academic levels of the students being served (Ho, 2019).
Reference
Education Week. (2019). The Every Student Succeeds Act: Explained. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/12/07/the-every-student-succeeds-act- explained.html.
Ho, L. (2019). 14 Powerful Leadership Traits That All Great Leaders Have. https://www.lifehack.org/674245/14-powerful-leadership-traits-that-all-great-leaders- have.