I’ve made clear in this blog and in my other communications that we are focused and committed to helping states and districts improve their persistently lowest-performing schools. Perhaps because of this, we’ve received quite a few questions about what this Administration is doing for those high-performing schools in the country.
Our Blueprint for Reform, or our proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), actually has quite a few things to say about supporting and rewarding high-performing schools, in addition to our investment in low-performing ones.
Our proposal calls for every state to ensure that its statewide system of accountability rewards schools and districts for progress and success, requires rigorous interventions in the lowest-performing schools and districts, and allows local flexibility to determine the appropriate improvement and support strategies for most schools. All students will be included in this accountability system that builds on college- and career-ready standards.
Our plan also calls for us to celebrate and reward states, districts, and schools that do the most to improve outcomes for their students and to close achievement gaps, as well as those who are on the path to have all students graduating or on track to graduate ready for college and a career by 2020. All schools will be aiming to do their part to help us reach that ambitious goal, and for most schools, leaders at the state, district, and school level will enjoy broad flexibility to determine how to get there. You can visit http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/index.html for more information about our proposal for reauthorization.
