ESSA
In 2015, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which brings about the first major overhaul to federal education policy in almost 15 years. The ESSA provides our state an opportunity to leverage new flexibilities that bring greater emphasis to Texas’ priorities in educating our more than five million schoolchildren.
ESSA did not change assessment requirements. All states accepting Title I federal funds used by LEAs must assess students as follows:
- Reading/language arts and mathematics – assess annually in each of grades three through eight and once in high school.
- Science – assess once during each of three specified grade spans: grades three through five, six through nine, and ten through twelve.
- English language proficiency – assess English language learners annually in each of grades kindergarten through grade twelve.
Title I Accountability
New accountability provisions of ESSA take effect beginning during the 2017–2018 school year.
Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements/Title II Professional Development
Requirements related to highly qualified teachers will remain in place through the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, schools will no longer be required to comply with the highly qualified teacher requirements.
See the Federal Programs Department page for more information.