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June 18, 2013

Dear Chief State School Officers:

Over  the last four years, state and local leaders and educators across America have  embraced an enormous set of urgent and long-overdue challenges:  raising standards and upgrading curricula to  better prepare students to compete in the global economy, developing new  assessments, rebuilding accountability systems to meet the unique needs of each  state and better serve at-risk students, and adopting new systems of support  and evaluation for teachers and principals. Meeting this historic set of challenges all at  once asks more of everybody throughout the education sector, and it is a  tribute to the quality of educators, leaders, and elected officials across this  country that so many have stepped up.

Throughout  this process, states and districts have established high goals for themselves:  college- and career-ready standards for all;  higher graduation rates and college enrollment rates; high expectations for  critical thinking, problem-solving, and other 21st century skills; ambitious  and achievable performance targets that really move the needle for kids at risk;  and useful, rigorous systems of evaluation and support for teachers and  principals based on multiple measures, including student growth.  The Department has offered flexibility to  enable states and districts to meet these goals.  In a country as diverse as ours, where schools  and students have different educational challenges, one-size-fits-all solutions  have not worked.  We have also aligned  our grant programs to support states willing to lead this important work, and the  result is that some states are further along than others, but all states are engaged  in significant improvement efforts and students are better off for it.

In  recent months, we have heard from many of you and from thousands of teachers,  principals, and education advocates. While  there is a broad sense that these far-reaching changes carry enormous promise for  schools, children, and the future of our country, there is caution that too  much change all at once could undermine our collective progress.  I fully appreciate both the courage to tackle  so many challenges at once and the burdens this imposes on front-line educators  – teachers, principals, school boards, and administrators – who are committed  to doing this work well.

With  that in mind, the Department is open to additional flexibility for states in  two critical areas:  the first relates to  one particular element of teacher and leader evaluation and support system  implementation, and the second addresses "double-testing" during the transition  to new assessments aligned with college- and career-ready standards.

First,  I want to address the implementation of teacher and leader evaluation and  support systems. States that have received a Race to the Top grant or flexibility  under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) are responsible for  working with districts to develop systems to evaluate and support principals  and teachers based on multiple measures, including student growth.  States have committed to different deadlines to  implement these systems:  some are  implementing now; others will begin over the coming years.  Given the move to college- and career-ready  standards, the dramatic changes in curricula that teachers and principals are  now starting to teach, and the transition to new assessments aligned to those  standards, the Department will consider, on a state-by-state basis, allowing  states up to one additional year before using their new evaluation systems to inform  personnel determinations.  To be  specific, states that request and are given this flexibility may delay any  personnel consequences, tied in part to the use of student growth data, until  no later than 2016–2017.  We recognize  that, for many states, it will not make sense to request this flexibility  because they are already well ahead in successfully implementing these changes  or have requirements in state law.

States  interested in this extension may request this change, before September 30,  2013, through the current ESEA flexibility amendment process.  Details about the amendment process are  available on the ESEA flexibility Web page (http://www2.ed.gov/esea-flexibility).  As each state implements college- and  career-ready standards, it must have a robust plan for supporting teachers and  principals as they transition to the new standards and assessments.  States will need to lay out those plans in  detail in the ESEA flexibility renewal process, along with indicators of  teacher and principal familiarity and comfort with these new materials.

The  second issue I want to address is that of "double-testing" during the  transition from the current statewide assessments to new assessments aligned  with college- and career-ready standards.  During the 2013–2014 school year, some schools  will be involved in the important work of field testing new assessments.  We  want to support states that would like to avoid double-testing students,****which as you know  often happens during the shift to a new test. Therefore, we would consider requests from  states for a one-year waiver, to allow schools participating in these field  tests to administer only one assessment in 2013–2014 to any individual student  — either the current statewide assessment or the field test.  We would also consider a request for those  schools to retain their Federal accountability designations for an additional year  during which the same targeted interventions would have to continue, with no  relaxation of accountability requirements.  Details about the Title I waiver process are  available at http://www.ed.gov/titlei-waiver.

Our  country continues to face challenges as we work together toward achieving  educational excellence for all children, and the timing of these actions has  real consequences for students in the real world.  The point of raising standards is to prepare students  for tomorrow's challenges rather than yesterday's.  Their readiness has real consequences for  their lives, and the nation's economic health. Yet this effort will only succeed if all  parties have the time, resources, and support needed to make the journey from  the inadequate standards of the past to the ambitious standards of tomorrow.  As the highest-ranking education official in  your states, you define the path and the pace for how states and schools will  make that journey.  Our job in Washington  is to support you.  In the coming days, the  Department will provide more information on the flexibility discussed above; my  staff will reach out to you and your teams to provide assistance.

On behalf of the Obama Administration, I deeply  appreciate your leadership and courage.  I  also appreciate your honest feedback and the feedback of your principals and  teachers.  Above all, I salute your  continuing determination to advance reforms that will benefit millions of  students in states and across America. This  is hard work and the need for change is urgent.



| | Sincerely, 
| | -----------
| | /s/        
| | Arne Duncan



|cc: | Council of Chief State School Officers
|--- | --------------------------------------

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