Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.

The previous version of the law, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, was enacted in 2002. NCLB represented a significant step forward for our nation’s children in many respects, particularly as it shined a light on where students were making progress and where they needed additional support, regardless of race, income, zip code, disability, home language, or background. The law was scheduled for revision in 2007, and, over time, NCLB’s prescriptive requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools and educators. Recognizing this fact, in 2010, the Obama administration joined a call from educators and families to create a better law that focused on the clear goal of fully preparing all students for success in college and careers.

ESSA Highlights

ESSA includes provisions that will help to ensure success for students and schools. Below are just a few. The law:

• Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students.
• Requires—for the first time—that all students in America be taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers.
• Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that measure students’ progress toward those high standards.
• Helps to support and grow local innovations—including evidence-based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and educators.
• Sustains and expands this administration’s historic investments in increasing access to high-quality preschool.
• Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability and action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation rates are low over extended periods of time.

History of ESEA

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who believed that “full educational opportunity” should be “our first national goal.” From its inception, ESEA was a civil rights law.

ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, federal grants for textbooks and library books, funding for special education centers, and scholarships for low-income college students. Additionally, the law provided federal grants to state educational agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education.

NCLB and Accountability

NCLB put in place measures that exposed achievement gaps among traditionally underserved students and their peers and spurred an important national dialogue on education improvement. This focus on accountability has been critical in ensuring a quality education for all children, yet also revealed challenges in the effective implementation of this goal.

Parents, educators, and elected officials across the country recognized that a strong, updated law was necessary to expand opportunity to all students; support schools, teachers, and principals; and to strengthen our education system and economy.

In 2012, the Obama administration began granting flexibility to states regarding specific requirements of NCLB in exchange for rigorous and comprehensive state- developed plans designed to close achievement gaps, increase equity, improve the quality of instruction, and increase outcomes for all students.

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U.S. Department of Education

A New Education Law

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015, and represents good news for our nation’s schools. This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.

The new law builds on key areas of progress in recent years, made possible by the efforts of educators, communities, parents, and students across the country.

For example, today, high school graduation rates are at all-time highs. Dropout rates are at historic lows. And more students are going to college than ever before. These achievements provide a firm foundation for further work to expand educational opportunity and improve student outcomes under ESSA.

The previous version of the law, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, was enacted in 2002. NCLB represented a significant step forward for our nation’s children in many respects, particularly as it shined a light on where students were making progress and where they needed additional support, regardless of race, income, zip code, disability, home language, or background. The law was scheduled for revision in 2007, and, over time, NCLB’s prescriptive requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools and educators. Recognizing this fact, in 2010, the Obama administration joined a call from educators and families to create a better law that focused on the clear goal of fully preparing all students for success in college and careers.

Congress has now responded to that call.

The Every Student Succeeds Act reflects many of the priorities of this administration.

• A Parent Guide to State and Local Report Cards
• Interpretación de libretas de calificaciones estatales y locales: Guía para padres
• Opportunities and Responsibilities for State and Local Report Cards
  • Informational Document
  • Summary Response of Public Comments Received
  • Dear colleague letter on state plan amendments, school identification, reporting, and technical assistance (October 24, 2019)
  • Parent and Educator Guide to School Climate Resources (April 10, 2019)
  • ESEA Dear Colleague Letter on State Plan Amendments (November 14, 2018)
  • ESSA Dear Colleague Letter on ESEA Section 8546 Requirements (June 27, 2018)
  • Student-Centered Funding Pilot
  • Memorandum to Title I Directors Regarding the Timeline for Implementing the New Title I Supplement, Not Supplant Requirements (December 6, 2017)
  • Consolidated State Plans Reminders Webinar (August 1, 2017)
  • ESSA Dear Colleague Letter on per-pupil expenditures reporting (June 28, 2017)
  • Consolidated State Plan Frequently Asked Questions (June 16, 2017)
  • ESSA Dear Colleague Letter on School Support and Improvement Activities and Consultation (April 10, 2017)
  • Revised Consolidated State plan requirements
  • ESSA State Plan Submission
  • Secretary DeVos’ Letter to States regarding consolidated State plans (February 10, 2017)
  • ESSA State Plan Notice of Intent
  • Dear Colleague Letter on ESSA Transition Technical Assistance and Resources (August 5, 2016)
  • Dear Colleague Letter on Stakeholder Engagement (June 22, 2016)
  • White House Fact Sheet on House Passage of ESSA
  • Read excerpts from U.S. Secretary Arne Duncan’s remarks on ESSA
  • Read the Every Student Succeeds Act
  • Sign up for news about ESSA
  • Sign up for email updates about ESSA
  • ESSA technical assistance resources
  • A Parent’s Guide to ESSA
  • A Summary of the Flexibilities
  • Comprender la Ley Cada Estudiante Triunfa
  • Build Your Own Presentation: A Parent’s Guide to ESSA
  • Webinar Presentation: ESSA Flexibilities
    • Slides
    • Webinar Recording
    • Final Regulation: Outdated or Superseded Regulations – Title I, Parts A through C; Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Program; and Empowerment Zone or Enterprise Community (August 21, 2018)
      • Fact Sheet for Final Regulations (August 21, 2018)
      • Notice of Final Regulation: Title I, Part A
      • Notice of Final Regulation: Title I, Part B
      • Fact Sheet for Final Regulations: Title I, Part A and Part B
      • Presentation: Assessment Regulations – Title I, Parts A and B (January 11, 2017)
        • Slides
        • Guidance Documents
          • ESSA State and Local Report Cards Guidance (January 6, 2017)
          • ESSA High School Graduation Rate Guidance (January 6, 2017)
          • Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Supplement, Not Supplant under Title I
          • Fact Sheet for Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Supplement, Not Supplant under Title I
            • Supplement, Not Supplant Overview: Powerpoint | Audio (September 14, 2016)

            ESSA Transition FAQs, Webinars, and Dear Colleague Letters

            • This document combines existing information on within-district Title I, Part A allocations (that currently exists in multiple places) to make the information easier for States and LEAs to access and use. It also updates the information to be consistent with the requirements in the ESEA of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act, identifying the requirements and options that the ESEA provides them with respect to within-district allocations. This document is posted for stakeholder review and comment through April 24, 2020. We ask that you refrain from providing line-edits of the document. Instead, please submit substantive comments about the content of the draft, including feedback on any additional topics you would like to see included, to [email protected]. We will consider comments in making revisions but will not provide responses to individual comments.
            • Non-Regulatory Guidance
            • Summary Response to Public Comments Received
            • Informational document
            • Summary response to public comments received
            • ESSA Webinar Audio Recording (October 13, 2016)
            • ESSA Webinar Audio Recording (October 5, 2016)
            • ESSA Webinar Audio Recording (December 22, 2016)

            Title II, Part A

            Title III, Part A

            Children in Foster Care

            • Dear Colleague Letter on Implementation of Educational Stability Requirements (December 5, 2016)
            • Effective Collaboration Webinar PowerPoint (September 7, 2016)
            • An Overview of the ED/HHS Joint Guidance PowerPoint Presentation (July 27, 2016)
            • Foster Care Guidance (June 23, 2016)
            • Dear Colleague Letter on Foster Care Guidance (June 23, 2016)
            • Dear Colleague Letter on Foster Care Timelines (June 23, 2016)

            Education for Homeless Children and Youth

            • Homeless Student Guidance (Updated August 2018)
            • Letter regarding Title I, Part A reservation to serve homeless students (July 30, 2018)
            • Homeless Student Guidance Fact Sheet (July 27, 2016)
            • Homeless Student Notice of Rights and Protections (July 27, 2016)
            • Click here to find additional technical assistance tools, resources, and information to support ESSA implementation.

            U.S. Department of Education:(January 11, 2016)

            • Title I, Part A assessments – Final Consensus-Based Regulatory Language (April 19, 2016)
            • Draft Organizational Protocols for the Negotiated Rulemaking Committee (March 17, 2016)
            • List of Non-Federal Negotiators (March 4, 2016)
            • Sessions 1 Materials (March 21-23, 2016)
            • Sessions 2 Materials (April 6-8, 2016)
            • Sessions 3 Materials (April 18-19, 2016)
            • Negotiator Nomination FAQs (February 22, 2016)
            • Rulemaking Webinar / Audio (February 17, 2016)
            • Federal Register Notice (February 4, 2016)
            • FAQs (February 3, 2016)

            Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has passed, and the President has signed, a resolution of disapproval of the accountability and State plans final regulations that were published on November 29, 2016 (81 FR 86076). The resolution of disapproval invalidates the accountability and State plan final regulations which are no longer applicable.

            • Final Regulation: Accountability, State Plans, and Data Reporting (November 28, 2016)
            • Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Accountability, State Plans, and Data Reporting
            • Resource Guide: Accountability for English Learners Under the ESSA (January 18, 2017)
            • Accountability Frequently Asked Questions