ESSA

Accountability Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

Under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), any public high school in the state with a graduation rate below 67 percent overall or for any student group receives support. Minnesota also uses a stage-based decision process to find those schools and districts that are low across all indicators. The process first checks school performance on the academic indicators, including academic achievement, English language proficiency, academic progress and graduation rates, and lastly, the process evaluates every school’s consistent attendance rates. For more information, click here.

Under ESSA, the district or charter—in partnership with stakeholders (including principals and other school leaders, teachers and parents)—must locally develop and implement a school improvement plan for the school to improve student outcomes. The School Improvement (SI) Plan answers the question, “How are we going to get to where we want to be?” It is different from typical, annual plans that are written to close a gap or achieve a couple goals. The SI Plan is written to achieve the vision of the school and is about keeping the entire system together and moving forward.