The 74 Releases Informational Video About ESSA
January 4, 2017
The 74 released an informational video on the “5 Things to Know About ESSA.” The video highlighted the following points:
- ESSA reduces federal authority over school decisions and gives it back to the states and local districts.
- States must still give standardized tests every year and report the results, including for specific groups like English-language learners.
- ESSA requires states to have challenging academic standards, but the federal government cannot dictate what those standards are.
- School accountability systems must now include a non-academic measure, like chronic absenteeism, in addition to statistic like test scores and graduation rates.
- ESSA requires states to intervene in their lowest-performing school districts.