Every Student Succeeds Act Negotiated Rulemaking
Client: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education
Background
Under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the U. S. Department of Education used a negotiated rulemaking process to develop regulations for academic assessments and provisions allocating federal education funds for children from low-income families. Negotiated rulemaking provides a forum for government and stakeholder representatives to engage in complex negotiations.
Process
Podziba Policy Mediation mediated negotiations of government and stakeholder representatives on issues including computer-adaptive assessments, inclusion of students with disabilities and English learners in academic assessments, and the methodology for implementing supplement not supplant requirements for allocating federal and state resources for Title I schools. The negotiations spanned six weeks and included three multi-day meetings.
The Every Student Succeeds Act Negotiating Rulemaking Advisory Committee was composed of 26 members, including representatives of Federal, State, and local government, education administrators, tribal leadership, parents and students, including historically underrepresented students, teachers, principals, other school leaders, including charter school leaders, paraprofessionals, members of State and local boards of education, civil rights advocates, including representatives of students with disabilities, English learners, and other historically underserved students, and the business community.
Throughout the Committee’s deliberations, members integrated their knowledge of academic assessments and passionately raised their concerns for the nation’s school children as they worked through their disparate opinions to develop effective policies.
Result
The negotiations resulted in consensus regulations to implement the academic assessment component of the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Committee did not achieve consensus on supplement-not-supplant provisions. The U.S. Department of Education has issued final regulations for the former, and a proposed rule for the latter. These regulations affect all public school students throughout the United States.
