Betsy DeVos Has Approved Every ESSA Plan. Read What's in Them

Betsy DeVos Has Approved Every ESSA Plan. Read What’s in Them

By Andrew Ujifusa — October 07, 2018 1 min read

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It’s finally happened. Roughly 34 months after President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law, all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have gotten the seal of approval for their ESSA plans from Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Florida ended up being the caboose—DeVos approved the Sunshine State’s ESSA plan late last month.

So what’s in the plans and how will they impact schools and students? We’ve got you covered at the link below:

Check Out the Education Week ESSA Tracker Here

For each ESSA plan, we’ve highlighted six individual policy areas that advocates, analysts, and educators are watching closely. These include the long-term goals, how states will measure school quality beyond test scores and graduation rates, and how states will grade schools.

In addition to including all the approved ESSA plans from the 50 states and the District of Columbia, for this latest update we’ve included the DeVos-approved plan from Puerto Rico. Aside from the changes in its ESSA plan, the island’s education system has been undergoing dramatic changes over the past year as it recovers from Hurricane Maria. See our coverage of Puerto Rico’s schools here.

Need a few teasers? You’ll find that tracking student attendance and absenteeism is a popular approach. And states are using a kaleidoscope of approaches to grade schools so that the public (ideally) has a sense of how they’re doing.

Here’s how Alabama’s plan looks in our tracker:

Of course, ESSA plan approval from the feds is just the start for states and schools. And even though DeVos is known for wanting to keep her hand off the steering wheel and brakes, the U.S. Department of Education will still monitor how states are handling ESSA.

Check out our recent story on ESSA monitoring here.

Think we missed something or got something wrong? Email us or let us know in the comments section.

Want to learn more about the Every Student Succeeds Act? Here’s some useful information:

Photo: President Barack Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Andrew Ujifusa

Assistant Editor, Education Week

Andrew Ujifusa was an assistant editor who covered national education policy and politics.