The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has presented state leaders with an enormous opportunity. ED’s offer of flexibility under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides the chance to align critical systems – standards, assessments, school accountability, and educator evaluation – with raised expectations for all students. And, by implementing good processes of engagement in the design of new systems, states can bring in critical expertise and build confidence in a new way of measuring and supporting student growth.
New Leaders is eager to help states take full advantage of this opportunity, beginning with this paper. Our goal is to provide concrete recommendations, focused primarily on Principle 3 (Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership), for states to consider in preparing an application for ESEA flexibility.
After ED releases peer review comments from the first round of state applications, we will likely update this guidance to incorporate new learnings.
We hope our insights can be valuable for you and welcome any questions you may have.
For questions, please contact our Policy Team.
