How School Districts Are Responding to ESSA’s Evidence Requirements for School Improvement

In the spring of 2019, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) at the George Washington
University conducted interviews with leaders from five school districts that differed in key
characteristics. The aim was to learn about districts’ efforts to implement the requirements of
the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for using evidence-based approaches to improve lowperforming schools. Under ESSA, states have more power than under previous iterations of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to identify which schools are low-performing, and
school districts have greater latitude to decide on strategies to improve these schools. The
strategies chosen, however, must be backed up by evidence of effectiveness that fits into one of
four “tiers,” ranging from strong evidence to evidence that demonstrates a rationale (see Box B).
These requirements offer state and district leaders opportunities for innovation as well as new
and urgent implementation challenges.
This report summarizes findings from those district interviews. A companion CEP
publication issued in April 2019, State Leader Interviews: How States Are Responding to ESSA’s
Evidence Requirements for School Improvement, describes findings from interviews with state
officials about how states are implementing ESSA’s evidence requirements. In July of 2019, CEP
and the National Academy of Education convened state and district leaders, researchers, and
policymakers to discuss ways to strengthen the relationships among these communities and use
evidence more effectively to support decision-making about school improvement and other
education issues.