Giving Compass' Take:

· As tension continues to rise with the implementation of new ESSA evaluations across the nation, Education Dive discusses the common complaints and delays. 

· Does this new system continue to put too much emphasis on assessments? How have report cards changed since adopting the new ESSA approach?

· Here's more on the changes and challenges with the Every Student Succeeds Act. 

There's a lot at stake with these new report cards. A lot of states, districts and schools haven't received marks in a long time, and these results help decide where federal and state school improvement funding goes. They also have the opportunity to serve as informative windows into what a particular district or school is excelling at and what it needs. So, it makes sense why administrators and parents are unnerved by these new evaluation systems, especially if they don't tell the whole story.

ESSA was created to change the game on measuring student and school performance. Previously, test scores dominated the field in determining schools' success and, as a result, the funding they received. But with this new federal policy, the goal is to focus less on standardized tests or summative assessments and more on a holistic approach that looks at a student's achievement and growth over the course of the whole year.

However, while ESSA requires each state to rate schools using a chosen set of indicator metrics, each state's implementation plan is different, leading to states facing different issues in releasing their report cards. In Tennessee, for instance, the state decided to rate its schools on a 0-4 scale instead of using letter grades, bringing joy to officials who said letter grades wouldn't be reflective of what their schools are doing well. But in Louisiana, educators lament the state's new system, which does utilize letter grades.

Read the full article about troubles with ESSA by Jessica Campisi at Education Dive.