By Dale Chu
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has signaled renewed openness to state requests for flexibility under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This could open the door for states to modify accountability measures, testing requirements, and reporting rules—decisions that directly shape how student learning is measured and communicated.
As of this writing, only Iowa and Indiana have formally submitted waiver requests, though more are expected in the months ahead (and Oklahoma’s widely panned proposal may see substantive revisions, assuming it’s submitted at all). Each waiver will bring its own mix of policy choices and potential risks. Some may focus narrowly on assessment and accountability; others, like Indiana, bundle these changes with broader funding flexibility, introducing additional complexity and questions about whether resources will reach the students and schools that need them most.
Waiver HQ will provide timely analysis once states formally submit their waiver requests, offering preliminary insights into their potential impact on the measures and use of state tests and reports cards. These early observations will aim to highlight strengths, trade-offs and possible challenges for students, educators, and families. Key areas of focus may include the following:
- Transparency: How states propose to measure and report student learning and school performance.
- Use of student outcomes: How proposed changes affect the use of measures of student learning in relation to school performance.
- Implementation considerations: Practical challenges states may face in rolling out new assessment or related policies.
- Comparisons: How different state approaches stack up against each other, highlighting trends and outliers.
While some waivers touch on broader funding flexibility, Waiver HQ will remain focused on the elements most directly tied to understanding student learning and academic performance. My write ups will reflect preliminary analysis of state proposals and later, federal approval (or denial) decisions.
The first state-specific installment—an analysis of Iowa’s waiver request—is now available to read here. If you have observations or push back, feel free to email them to me; we may incorporate them into our ongoing Waiver HQ coverage. Your insights will help surface blind spots, sharpen the analysis, and illuminate how these waiver decisions may play out in practice.
Stay tuned to Waiver HQ for updates on how these waivers could shape state assessment systems!