(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).

CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, OHIO-WASHINGTON, D.C.-President Obama (pictured), on Thursday, signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law, a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which,  itself, was a re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.

Calling the new education law a Christmas miracle, the president said that “there is nothing more essential to living up to the ideals of this nation than to make sure every child is able to live up to their God-given potential.”

Once dubbed an unfunded mandate by teachers unions reluctant to embrace the legislative initiative, ESSA  minimizes the role of the federal government by giving states  and local school districts more autonomy.

It does, however, maintain  the standardized testing mandate that Obama says is in place to hold school districts and educators more accountable relative to educational outcomes.

Whether standardized testing is the proper yardstick for assessing student achievement is debatable, some educational scholars  argue, particularly since Black  children,  due in part  to cultural bias, socioeconomic factors, and still existing vestiges of racial discrimination, traditionally do not fare as well as their White counterparts.

The president said yesterday that the K-12 federal legislation transcends the educational arena.

“I want this not just because it’s good for the students themselves, the communities involved, and for our economy, but because it really goes to the essence of what we are about as Americans,” said Obama..

The bipartisan  measure includes many of the reforms the Obama administration has called on Congress to enact and follows more that eight years of infighting between congressional Republicans and Democrats.

Key components of ESSA include the following:

-Holding all students to high academic standards that prepare them for success in college and careers.

-Ensuring accountability by guaranteeing that when students fall behind, states redirect resources into what works to help them and their schools improve, with a particular focus on the very lowest-performing schools, high schools with high dropout rates, and schools with achievement gaps.

-Empowering state and local decision-makers to develop their own strong systems for school improvement based upon evidence, rather than imposing cookie-cutter federal solutions like the No Child Left Behind Act did.

-Reducing the often onerous burden of testing on students and teachers, making sure that tests don’t crowd out teaching and learning, without sacrificing clear, annual information parents and educators need to make sure our children are learning.

-Providing more children access to high-quality preschool.

-Establishing new resources for proven strategies that will spur reform and drive opportunity and better outcomes for America’s students.(www.clevelandurbannews.com)/(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).