"The SEA of the Future" is an education publication series examining how state education agencies can shift from a compliance to a performance-oriented organization through strategic planning and performance management tools to meet growing demands to support education reform while improving productivity. This volume, the sixth in the series, explores how state education agencies can: (1) craft accountability systems that can drive continuous improvement systemwide; and (2) redefine their role in supporting educators, schools, and districts. Undergirding this volume's essays are five principles that should guide states' planning and implementation around the newly revamped Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). As states revisit their improvement and accountability strategies for K-12 education, they should ensure their plans are: (1) Comprehensive; (2) Deliberate about how rich data are used and by whom; (3) Clear in defining nonoverlapping roles and responsibilities for the state and districts; (4) Nimble enough to allow for triage; and (5) Focused on fostering continuous improvement systemwide. These five principles are expanded through three essays. In the first essay, "ESSA's Opportunities for States in Assessment, Accountabiity, and Turnaround," Ashley Jochim reviews ESSA's new opportunities for states to design and use K-12 accountability systems to drive continuous improvement, pursue reform grounded in local priorities and evidence-based best practices, and respond to growing political pressures around student testing. In the second essay, "Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick": Why Chiefs Should Do Both to Improve Schools and Districts," Paul Hill and Ashley Jochim explore how state chiefs can mine ESSA's new opportunities for state leadership on school and district improvement efforts by judiciously wielding a mix of "hard" and "soft" powers. This means forcing the hand of struggling local districts with direct interventions when necessary and influencing local district leaders and others more informally when appropriate. In the third and final essay, " What Works? Evidence-Based Policymaking Under ESSA," Betheny Gross considers how states can harness ESSA to strengthen their use of evidence-based policymaking. Doing this can help state agencies foster local innovation and cross-state collaboration to develop and share needed solutions to pressing education problems. Taken together, these three essays provide State Education Agencies (SEAs) a new framework for strategic planning and concrete tools for implementation as they face a landscape that grants states expansive authority over accountability and improvement strategies. [For "The SEA of the Future: Leveraging Performance Management to Support School Improvement. Volume 1," see ED562516. For "The SEA of the Future: Prioritizing Productivity. Volume 2," see ED562514. For "The SEA of the Future: Building the Productivity Infrastructure. Volume 3," see ED562515. For "The SEA of the Future: Uncovering the Productivity Promise of Rural Education. Volume 4," see ED562510. For "The SEA of the Future: Building Agency Capacity for Evidence-Based Policymaking. Volume 5," see ED562509.]