政策彈性與韌性：美國《每位學生成功法案》（ESSA）於新冠肺炎期間的績效豁免之探討

Policy Flexibility and Resilience: The Accountability Waiver Under ESSA During the Period of COVID-19

《每位學生成功法案》（Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA）於2016年首逢B.Obama與D. Trump政權交接，2020年由於COVID-19的爆發讓人始料未及，致其又遭遇再次的政黨輪替，法案落款伊始未及四年內，竟已面臨二次改朝換代，經歷Obama、Trump與J. Biden等三任總統治理，較之《沒有孩子落後法案》（No Child Left Behind Act,NCLB）雖亦橫跨G. W. Bush和Obama各八年任期，其政策權力更迭與複雜性實有過之而無不及。因為疫情的時消時長，難以讓ESSA的績效條款依時施行，須借助豁免規定（Waivers）以手下留情，倘若強硬推行，恐又將如NCLB一般，弄得前後失據。本文之目的即在以ESSA於疫情期間的績效豁免為政策主軸，探討聯邦政府身處防疫與績效的兩難困境，在藉由績效豁免展現ESSA政策彈性與延展其政策韌性時，其政策軸線內所產生的政策決定和政策效應。

For the past two years, the federal government has been faced serious challenges in the implementation on ESSA’s accountability plans given that COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on schools nationwide. The waivers of assessment will allow states to bypass all testing requirements included in the ESSA for the current academic year with regards to providing schools with more of flexibility to handle the impact of coronavirus. In this sense, examining the process of how waivers are enforced during the period of pandemic undoubtedly offers the best scenario for understanding the policy role of waivers, which not only assumes the functions of policy instrument, policy rescue and policy opportunity; but also is conducive to the explanation on how waivers strengthen policy resilience by increasing policy flexibility. Accordingly, taking on waivers for ESSA under COVID-19 as the policy theme, this paper aims to explore the dilemma and predicament where the federal government stuck between coronavirus and accountability, and further recognize the relevant policy decision and policy impact within the policy timeline of waivers. This paper presents three conclusions, which highlight that “the principal-agent relationship between Department of Education and states as well as local districts,” “the restriction and standpoint of Department of Education to states as well as local districts,” “the related issues between Department of Education and states as well as local districts.”