With just months to go until the nation's overhauled K-12 law goes into effect, state policymakers are still scrambling to firm up the infrastructure for their education systems, under the new blueprint laid out in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). They're doing it at a time of political change and policy uncertainty at the national level, with a new team taking the field at the White House--and at the U.S. Department of Education--that may have its own ideas about how details of the new law play out on the ground. There's plenty about ESSA that remains familiar from the No Child Left Behind Act, the previous version of the half-century-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act. That includes mandatory state testing at certain grade levels, tagging and intervening in low-performing schools, and federal sign-off on state accountability plans. But the new law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress just over a year ago, also offers the prospect of new flexibility and a lighter federal rein on how states shape the specifics in such contentious areas as teacher evaluation and the proper weighting of indicators that go into measuring school quality. "Quality Counts 2017" look at the steps states are taking to turn ESSA's blueprint into a finished structure--and the challenges of doing it by the time the bell rings for the 2017-18 school year. Following an executive summary and a report overview, Tricky Balance in Making Shift from Blueprint to K-12 Reality (Alyson Klein), this issue contains four sections. Section 1, On the Ground, contains: (1) States' Capacity a Nagging Issue as ESSA Gears Up (Daarel Burnette II); (2) Hard Listening as States Seek Public's Voice in ESSA Plans (Denisa R. Superville);(3) Funding Twists, Tight Budgets Loom for States at ESSA's Debut (Andrew Ujifusa). Section 2, Accountability & Assessments, contains: (1) Making Sure That Schools Measure Up (Alyson Klein) (2) States Preparing Expanded Toolkit in Assessment of School Quality (Evie Blad); (3) ESSA Highlights Absenteeism as a Key Challenge for Schools (Caralee J. Adams); (4) Offered Chance to Craft Tests, States Moving with Caution (Alyson Klein); and (5) States, Districts Still Wrestling With Flexibility on Assessments (Catherine Gewertz). Section 3, Classroom, Teachers, & Students, contains: (1) Assessing Quality of Teaching Staff Proves Complex Despite Leeway (Madeline Will); (2) Spec. Ed. Groups Dig in on ESSA (Christina A. Samuels); (3) ESSA's Impact Unclear for English-Learners (Corey Mitchell); and (4) Integrating Early Ed. Into State ESSA Plans (Christina A. Samuels). Section 4, State of the States, contains: (1) In Latest Look, Nation's Grade Stays Decidedly Middle-of-Pack (Sterling C. Lloyd and Alex Harwin); (2) Table: Grading Summary; (3) Table: Chance for Success; (4) Table: School Finance; (5) Methodology; and (6) Sources and Notes.