(WTOL) - Education is just one of the many issues candidates are campaigning on for the 2016 election. Many of them are on the side of returning main control of education standards back to the states.
In December, lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill repealing No Child Left Behind, an act put in place by President George Bush in 2001 which caught a lot of backlash for its one-size-fits-all approach.
The new Every Student Succeeds Act provides more flexibility for states.
Randall Parker has three children who go to Toledo Public Schools. He says he's always been active in their education and paid close attention to No Child Left Behind mandates.
"Overtime, it became conflicting. Tests being done during class time, things of such and really putting schools and the school districts in a box," said Parker.
He says he was happy to hear No Child Left Behind is out and Every Student Succeeds is in.
"I'm really excited. And I think with the local districts giving input, it can kind of help our students a lot more," said Parker.
It's the same reaction leadership at TPS had.
Executive Transformational Leader of Curriculum, Jim Gault says the new act will allow more state and local control around how students should learn.
"As opposed to marching to the beat of the federal drum in terms of hitting mandates, we'll have the ability to be creative and we're excited to see how that's going to shake out," said Gault.
Under the new act, states still have to test students in grades 3 through 8, and once in high school, in reading and math.
But there could be an opportunity through a pilot program in Every Student Succeeds to take some of that testing pressure off.
It's an idea Perrysburg Schools Superintendent Tom Hosler is excited about.
"One of the things they're piloting here is allowing local districts and states to maybe use some of those locally administered tests, that are those diagnostic tests that the teacher uses in real time to count towards meeting that requirement," said Hosler.
Some other items of note in the new act:
- Student performance and school grades will be rated on more than just testing
- Federal teacher requirements that limit which grades they can teach are out
- Funding will be available for pre-k
Every Student Succeeds also gives states more flexibility in how the lowest performing schools will fix their problems, versus a one-size-fits-all mandate from No Child Left Behind. Funding will also be dedicated to those schools.
"(It) Allows us the chance to be creative and possibly to put and try some different things at different schools around innovation, around technology to impact learning and successful way," said Gault.
What about curriculum changes? Could Common Core become a thing of the past?
Gault and Hosler say that will be up to state lawmakers and the Board of Education to decide as Common Core has always been a state mandated standard.
But unlike before, the new act prohibits the Federal Government from providing incentives to adopt a particular set of standards, like Common Core.
"It's a clear mark that the federal government is backing off, forcing districts and states to go that direction. There are some provisions in it that clearly it's up to the states to decide," said Hosler.
State leaders are digging through the new act to craft a plan to submit to the U.S. Education Department to sign off on.
That new plan won't go into effect until the 2017-2018 school year. The upcoming school year will serve as a transitional year for states.
Ohio has drafted an implementation timeline and will begin getting feedback from districts by the end of this month.
Giving states more decision-making power is something Gault says is encouraging.
"It's a lot easier to influence Columbus than it is Washington D.C.. So as we look at the needs of our kids in Toledo, our hope is the state is going to allow some flexibility to ensure that every student has the opportunity to succeed and that we move the dial for every kid," said Gault.
Parker says as a parent, he'll do what he can to stay involved as the new plan takes shape over the course of the next year.
"I think that along with the superintendents, the administrators, the teachers, the parents...everybody needs to have a role to make sure our students are successful," said Gault.
Learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act here.
