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This update on the Every Student Succeeds Act and the education plans now being refined by state legislatures is produced in partnership with ESSA Essentials, a new series from the Collaborative for Student Success. It鈥檚 an offshoot of their聽聽newsletter, which you can聽! (See our recent ESSA updates聽from previous weeks right here.)

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos three more ESSA plans 鈥� Alabama, Colorado, and Kentucky. Overall, the department聽.聽Alabama鈥檚 plan included two of the 鈥渕ost popular鈥� indicators to measure alongside assessment results: chronic absenteeism and college and career readiness. And Colorado had to wait 鈥�,鈥� mostly because of the way the state dealt with opting out of assessments in its original plan.

Alabama, Colorado, and Kentucky join 42 other states + DC and Puerto Rico in the approved plan pile! gives specifics about what’s in these 3 newly-approved plans:

鈥� ESSA Updates (@ESSA_Update)

Meanwhile, Kentucky鈥檚 plan gets the thumbs-up amid significant education politics drama: Gov. Matt Bevin refused to sign off on the state鈥檚 ESSA plan, which was crafted by the state鈥檚 former education commissioner Stephen Pruitt, who . Whether or not Interim Commissioner Wayne Lewis will try to make big changes to Kentucky鈥檚 ESSA plan remains to be seen, but the current plan seeks to measure 鈥渙pportunity and access鈥� in addition to assessment results.

Two big states, however, : Secretary DeVos 鈥渕ay have approved 聽plans鈥� for dozens of states, but 鈥渢wo of the biggest 鈥� Florida and California 鈥� are still angling for their federal blessing,鈥� even though 鈥淒eVos has聽聽as a model for the rest of the country.鈥�

Check out below for more ESSA news.

1 Do states measure up on continuous improvement?

Education Week鈥檚 Alyson Klein聽聽information about how states are approaching continuous improvement in their ESSA plans. Although the term 鈥渃ontinuous improvement鈥� isn鈥檛 explicitly mentioned in the law, Klein notes that a 鈥渉andful of states are using the law as an opportunity to rethink their systems through a continuous-improvement lens, according to experts who have analyzed the plans.鈥�

But not everyone is impressed.

鈥淚ncentivizing continuous improvement, I think, is actually the point of ESSA, and very few people are doing that well,鈥� former Arne Duncan chief of staff Joanne Weiss said. 鈥淢ost states are super vague. They just generally offer vague lists of evidence-based interventions that districts may use.鈥�

New Mexico will pilot a 鈥榬eal-time鈥� data system to help the state identify 9th graders who are behind or 6th graders who are chronically absent.

鈥� Data Quality Campaign (@EdDataCampaign)

2 NCLD teaches parents how to advocate for professional development

Because ESSA sets aside professional development funding for all states and local districts, the National Center for Learning Disabilities has created a helpful聽聽鈥渇or parents and advocates to use in their schools and districts鈥� to make the case for professional development that will improve outcomes for students with disabilities. NCLD created these resources so that parents can learn about key professional development topics and advocate with their schools or districts to make sure teacher professional development will help their children. The toolkit includes fact sheets about each strategy; a letter that parents can use to request meetings with teachers, principals, or district staff to talk about school-wide teacher training; and talking points parents can use during those meetings.

In a blog post, NCLD notes, 鈥淲hen federal policies like ESSA offer opportunities to advance effective practices, to resources that can help them bring the practices to life in their schools.鈥�

NEW from and : a toolkit to help parents advocate for teacher professional development will help their children thrive:

鈥� CAP Education (@EdProgress)

3 Don鈥檛 know much about history (of the MSI) 鈥�

Military Families for High Standards Chairwoman Christi Ham of the history of the Military Student Identifier (MSI), because even people who are 鈥渋n the know鈥� don鈥檛 actually know much about the MSI or how and why it was created.

The first 鈥渂ig step鈥� was development of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children in 2008, which 鈥渇ocused on transition issues facing military families, including enrollment, placement, attendance, eligibility, and graduation.鈥� That same year, the Defense and Education departments also 鈥渁greed to work together on five areas of key importance to military-dependent students.鈥�

In 2011, the Government Accountability Office that the two departments 鈥渄etermine whether to require school districts to identify military-dependent students as a distinct subgroup鈥� and 鈥渨hether they needed legislative authority from Congress.鈥� This authority was given in 2015 when Congress passed ESSA, which included the MSI.

What is the “military student identifier” and why is it a game changer for students in ? Military spouse Christi Ham explains:

鈥� for Student Success (@StudentSuccess)

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