A new federal law designed to put states in charge of school accountability soon will be implemented fully throughout the country, but there still are questions as to whether — and how — it will work.

The Every Student Succeeds Act, called ESSA, is bipartisan legislation passed by a Republican U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2015.

Under the law, states were required to submit plans detailing how they would implement the law, and to engage with a wide array of stakeholders instead of just a few traditional education officials such as superintendents and classroom teachers.

ESSA still requires students in grades three through eight to take annual assessments and high school students to be tested at least twice over four years. Now, however, states will determine for themselves how much weight scores will have on a school’s accountability rating.

In addition to test scores, schools must track graduation rates, English-language proficiency, and the academic progress of low-income and minority students. States also have to choose other indicators of student growth, but ESSA doesn’t define what else can be used. That’s part of the flexibility written into the law that gives states more control of local education.

Read the full article on the Every Student Succeeds Act by Jessica R. Towhey at InsideSources