Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
This message is sent on behalf of Laura Bay, National PTA president and Nathan Monell, National PTA executive director.
Dear PTA Leaders:
In the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), parents and other education stakeholders are required to be meaningfully consulted and engaged in the implementation and evaluation of the law. Parents, families and other education stakeholders will now be able to provide critical guidance and expertise to improve our nation’s schools and ensure that every child has the opportunity to reach his/her full potential. This is a significant and much-needed change from current practice. The law, however, gives few details on what constitutes meaningful engagement and how stakeholders should work together to determine policies and practices.
To help facilitate meaningful stakeholder engagement under ESSA, the Learning First Alliance (LFA) has created a set of principles to make sure the right people are at the table and the process moves forward in an effective manner. LFA is a collaborative group of 14 of the nation’s leading education organizations, including National PTA.
National PTA is committed to ensuring the successful implementation of ESSA. In addition to helping develop LFA’s set of principles, the association will continue to create and curate resources at PTA.org/ESSA to educate and empower state and local PTAs to be a part of the process. We hope that you will use the principles, along with other National PTA ESSA materials, to further conversations on effective stakeholder engagement, take steps to make sure parents and families are at the table and provide valuable input on important state and local education policy decisions. We encourage you to share the principles and other ESSA resources with PTA leaders and members in your state so that they can effectively engage in the process as well.
The opportunity for a significant change in education policy-making is at hand. It is essential that meaningful stakeholder engagement occurs as intended and that parents and families are active in state and local implementation of ESSA to make the promise of the law a reality for all children.
Sincerely,
Laura M. Bay
President
National PTA
