Draft ESSA Plan Now Available for Feedback
December 20, 2016
Please note: This article was originally published on 12/20/2016. Information and/or dates from past events may be not be relevant for the current school year.
Message from Commissioner Candice McQueen:
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
As you know, we have been working over the past year to draft our state plan to transition to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and build on the work we’ve started in partnership with you through Tennessee Succeeds. I am happy to share this draft plan with you today. We believe this presents a strong vision for the work ahead, clarity on how ESSA will strengthen our schools in Tennessee, and concrete strategies for how we will achieve our shared goals.
You can view the plan and provide us with public comment via our ESSA website, and a direct link to the feedback form is here. The public comment period will be open through Jan. 31, 2017. All input is welcome, and we encourage groups to provide feedback as one entity. We also posted a blog today that walks through what we have heard so far and provides a general overview for where we will go from here. We will continue to keep you updated as we finalize our ESSA plan and—more importantly—move forward on this work in the months ahead.
Additionally, over the past two weeks, I’ve had the chance to hear from more than 600 parents, educators, students, district and school administrators, school board members, advocates, and community members who have attended our ESSA town halls. This turnout during a busy holiday season has exceeded our expectations and re-energized our team to continue these important conversations. So today, I am also pleased to tell you that we are hosting two more town halls: one on Jan. 6 at 4:30 p.m. ET at Orchard Knob Elementary School in Chattanooga and one in Bristol on Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. ET at Tennessee High School. If you can’t make it to an in-person discussion, our website has the handouts from these town halls, a video from one of the presentations as well as the presentation itself, and an online survey that mirrors the exit ticket questions we ask of town hall participants. You can RSVP for the two new town halls here.