Dept. of Ed Approves 4 State ESSA Plans
August 30, 2017
The Dept. of Education approved four state ESSA plans – the District of Columbia, Illinois, Oregon, and Tennessee. “As more and more state plans come under the department’s review, I am heartened to see how states have embraced the spirit of flexibility under ESSA to improve education for individual students,” DeVos said. The Dept. of Education noted “unique” aspects of each plan, including the District of Columbia’s plan to incorporate “ratings and measurements about the quality of districts’ pre-K programs into its accountability system,” Illinois’ proposal to judge schools’ climate “partly on the basis of student surveys,” Oregon’s tracking of “how many credits high school freshmen have attained at the end of the year to make sure they’re on track to graduation,” and Tennessee’s new grants “aimed at boosting teacher diversity and innovation, as well as teacher and principal residencies to promote career advancement.”