Resource Library

When the Every Student Succeeds Act passed in 2015, there was widespread worry that states would walk away from making sure that particular groups of studentsEnglish-language learners, students in special education, and racial minoritiesmattered in their school accountability systems.

States are working to make sure that's not the case, said several state chiefs who spoke on a recent panel moderated by the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

The English Learner Roadmap, unanimously adopted by the California State Board of Education in July, is an online resource intended to supplement existing state standards.

Current research suggests that ELs are under-represented in advanced classes, in part, according to one teacher quoted, because they don't have the language skills to show what they can do.

Researchers and advocacy groups are bracing for an avalanche of new data on mobility once ESSA, the Every Student Succeeds Act, goes into effect.

Spurred by changes in federal law, states are ramping up and revising English-proficiency testing, According to WIDA's director of research H. Gary Cook, quoted in this article, ESSA has basically set a different way of looking at the bar, and now people are trying to catch up to that."

Federal law requires that states standardize how to determine when ELs are English proficient. In California, there is controversy over the criteria that would be used and the role of districts and teachers in making the judgment.

Editors' pick of great articlesin a free downloadable PDF--on approaches to language development, ESSA and ELs, misconceptions about teaching ELs, and more.

This article reviews the debate between flexibility for states and local districts on the one hand and accountability and protections for vulnerable students on the otheramong other issues at playas Congress reconsiders the regulations for ESSA.

Outgoing executive director Alejandra Ceja discusses the legacy and future goals of this White House office founded under President George H.W. Bush in 1990.