Betsy DeVos Rips State ESSA Plans in ‘Tough Love’ Speech to Chiefs
March 5, 2018
By: Daarel Burnette II
Source: Education Week
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos—in a speech she labeled “tough love”—laid into states’ accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act for not being ambitious enough, lacking innovation, and not taking full advantage of the law’s flexibilities.
Her jarring, 40-minute address struck a harsh, somewhat dismissive tone, with DeVos telling state schools chiefs that while she doesn’t believe it’s her job to force President Donald Trump’s education agenda onto states, she’s held her tongue for too long.
The state plans turned in to her department that describe how states will use billions of federal dollars have barely met the minimum requirements of the law and are compliance-driven, she said. That defeats the purpose of the law, she said, which was to allow for states to take charge of the nation’s education agenda.