DES MOINES, Iowa –Iowa schools will now be graded in part by feedback from students in a new effort to bring a more “holistic” approach to school accountability measures.

Iowa’s recently submitted plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act outlines how state bureaucrats are moving away from measures based mostly on student math and reading tests to a “holistic approach” that will incorporate student growth and graduation rates, as well as a survey for students about their experience at school, The Des Moines Register reports.

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The plan, if approved by the federal government, will replace the state’s previous plan crafted under the No Child Left Behind act.

“One criticism of No Child Left Behind is that it is so test-focused,” Iowa Department of Education spokeswoman Staci Hupp told the news site.

The annual student surveys will ask students in grades 3-12 how strongly they agree or disagree with certain sentiments, such as “My teachers care about me,” “There are clear rules about what students can or cannot do,” and “I was called names, made fun of, or teased in a hurtful way.”

The survey is currently under development with the goal of implementing it next spring, Barbara Ohlund, Iowa Department of Education writer who put together the ESSA plan, told the Register.

Iowa State University education professor Doug Wieczorek thinks the surveys are a good idea.

“It formalizes a process that has been informal since students first began attending school,” he said. “It is a relatively new phenomenon that schools and states and districts are becoming more responsive to the voices of students, and rightfully so.”

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The ESSA plan has some other interesting measures, as well.

The Register pointed out last week that the document sets academic goals for students based on race, with black students expected to perform the worst, followed by Hispanic students, Asian students and white students.

“For example, by 2021 the goal for third-graders reading at grade-level is 54 percent for black students, 65.9 percent for Hispanic students, 80.6 percent for Asian students and 83.1 percent for white students,” the news site reports.

State education officials contend the approach is part of a plan to eliminate a performance gap between low-income minority students and their white classmates that also includes higher expectations for improvement from minority students.

“It was walking the line between what we think is possible in terms of improvement and what is the right thing for our kids,” Amy Williamson, chief of school improvement for the Iowa Department of Education, told the Register.

Democratic state lawmakers and teachers union officials, meanwhile, are pushing to expand the state’s part-time voluntary preschool program into a full-day, state-funded ordeal.

“If we can work with early childhood to make sure that the kids are starting out more equally … it would eliminate the achievement gap faster,” said state Rep. Ruth Ann Gaines, a black Democrat from Des Moines.

Iowa State Education Association president Tammy Wawro decried the seeming lack of college-prep courses and similar resources for minority students, because “opportunities matter in our schools.

“It matters what ZIP code you live in in our state,” she said.

Ironically, Democrats and union officials have historically been the biggest obstacles to school choice, which brings a variety of high-quality educational options to low-income families, from vouchers for private schools to innovative charter schools to top-notch online learning opportunities.