Implementing Title I and Title II-A During the Transition to ESSA

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A new report finds that between 2014 and 2018, states made little substantive change to state content standards, broadened measures to identify struggling schools, and increasingly used performance data to support effective teaching. The Transition to ESSA: State and District Approaches to Implementing Title I and Title II-A in 2017-18 focuses on two core federal programs that promote equal access to high-quality schooling. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) updated these programs by shifting many decisions back to states and districts while retaining certain federal requirements. This report, based on surveys of all states and a nationally representative sample of districts, describes how they navigated this new landscape during the transitional 2017-18 school year, as compared to the 2013-14 school year, prior to ESSA. Key findings include: Most states had not significantly changed their content standards by 2017-18, and districts increasingly provided supports to implement them. By 2013, all but 4 states had adopted the Common Core standards. Although many states subsequently renamed their standards, only 14 reported making major changes to them by 2018. More districts reported assisting implementation of state standards in 2018 compared to 2014, for example by using textbooks aligned with state content standards (80% of districts in 2014 vs. 94% in 2018). States broadened the measures they used to identify struggling schools, and more districts reported specific improvement activities at these schools. Between 2014 and 2018, more states held schools accountable for student attendance, achievement growth, and test scores in subjects beyond reading and math (14, 20, and 9 more states, respectively). Districts increasingly reported that their struggling schools implemented improvement strategies such as providing professional development to teachers on working in teams (61% of districts in 2014 vs. 93% in 2018). States and districts increasingly used performance data as a means to support effective teaching.Between 2014 and 2018, nine more states used measures of teacher performance—such as their evaluation ratings or student achievement growth—to assess whether students have equitable access to high-quality teaching. Districts increasingly used teacher evaluation ratings to identify and support low performers between 2014 and 2018, for example with individualized professional development that included coaching, mentoring, or peer assistance (84% of districts in 2014 vs. 95% in 2018).