The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), contains a requirement for a 1% cap on the participation of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities in the state alternate assessment, based on alternate academic achievement standards. The 1% cap is designed to limit the number of…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), includes new provisions that are designed to support English learners' (ELs) participation in statewide testing. To facilitate testing of ELs and to support their testing participation, ESSA includes stipulations for states to administer content…

On March 13, 2017, the United States Department of Education (USED) released a revised template for the Consolidated State Plan under section 8302 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The purpose of the Consolidated State Plan is to provide stakeholders with quality,…

To understand standards alignment in the context of curriculum and assessment, it is important to understand what standards are, what curriculum consists of, what assessments are, and what alignment means in the context of curriculum and assessment. Standards indicate what students should know and be able to do within a particular content area,…

Over the course of developing Consolidated State Plans, states have spent time evaluating their accountability systems. Many of the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, such as the inclusion of academic measures of students' proficiency on annual assessments, graduation rates, and English learners' progress toward…

To comply with Section 1111(e) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to submit evidence associated with their assessment systems to the United States Department of Education (ED) for peer review. Thirty-eight states submitted evidence for their assessment…

The U.S. Department of Education's review of state assessment systems is an evidence-based, peer review process for which each state submits evidence to demonstrate that its assessment system meets a set of established criteria, called Critical Elements. Critical Elements represent the Elementary and Secondary Education Act statutory and…

This report provides a summary of the 17 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans submitted by May 31, 2017 to the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this report is to provide an at-a-glance look at how states articulated decisions related to standards, assessment, accountability, and instruction of English learners in their submitted…

With the increased inclusion of student academic growth in school accountability decisions, the Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) has received multiple queries regarding how states are incorporating student growth measures into their accountability systems. CSAI recently sought to answer this question through a scan of state…

As states begin to revisit or revise their accountability systems to include an additional indicator of school quality or success under the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) has received queries regarding whether and how states are measuring school climate and stakeholder…

As states begin to revisit or revise their accountability systems to include an additional indicator of school quality or success under the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Center on Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) has received queries regarding whether and how states are measuring school climate and stakeholder…

As states examine efforts to ensure college and career readiness for all students, review and possible revision of their content standards may be part of these efforts. Based on questions CSAI has received regarding how states undergo the process of revising content standards, a report was created to compile information for stakeholders interested…

This report highlights states' school accountability systems, with an eye on the states that include a measure of student growth in their accountability system. For each state, the report includes: (1) Proficiency measures; (2) Growth measures; and (3) Additional measures such as graduation and dropout rates. The report also provides an overview…

This memorandum presents results from a scan of states' accountability and accreditation systems, focusing on measures of student achievement and outcomes that are associated with school improvement. Particular attention was given to indicators that can lead to increased student achievement and school quality other than state assessments. The data…

As the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is implemented, states are evaluating their accountability systems to gauge these systems' alignment with ESSA stipulations. The implementation of ESSA provides states with opportunities to change the compositions of their accountability systems and to select indicators that are aligned with their visions…