Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


ED Secretary DeVos Tells States to Maintain ESSA Timelines

DeVos

Betsy DeVos, the new secretary of the United States Department of Education (ED), wants to maintain the timeline set by the Obama administration for reviewing state plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), even though accountability regulations appear as though they will be eliminated by Congress.

The ESSA timeline includes one early bird deadline of April 3 and one later deadline on Sept. 18. So far, 17 states plus the District of Columbia have told the ED that they are shooting to have their plans ready in time for the April date, according to Education Week.
 
One unusual hurdle will be this: The Obama administration accountability regulations — which Congress will probably scrap — include a template for states to use as they build their ESSA plans. DeVos and her staff have said they are reviewing that template to make sure that it doesn’t ask for any information that isn’t “absolutely necessary.” DeVos’ department may release a new template for states by mid-March.

And DeVos said the department may also consider allowing a state or group of states to work together to craft their own template through the Council of Chief State School Officers, as long as such a template meets the new requirements in the law.

The possibility of multiple templates, including one developed outside the department, could complicate state preparations, especially considering that the new template will be released just a couple weeks before the first submission deadline. Multiple templates could also make it harder for peer reviewers to hold states to equal expectations.

You can read DeVos’ recent letter to chief state school officers here.

About the Author

Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Male teacher standing in front of the class explaining a lesson to a diverse group of elementary school students listening at their desks

    SMART Technologies Launches Audio Accessibility Solution for SMART Boards

    SMART Technologies has introduced SoundFlow, a plug-and-play broadcasting system that allows classroom audio content to flow directly from a SMART Board display to students' compatible hearing aids, earbuds, headphones, personal listening devices, or speakers.

  • Girl playing video games

    5 Lessons Video Game Designers Can Teach Educators About Learning

    Video game designers spend an enormous amount of time studying what keeps people engaged when something becomes difficult. They have become very good at helping people persist. Schools should pay attention.

  • large cloud icon with abstract code and interconnected polygons

    Report: Enterprise AI Workloads Are Tipping Toward Private Cloud

    Broadcom's 2026 Private Coud Outlook report says enterprise AI is moving from experimentation into production, with private cloud emerging as the preferred deployment environment for AI inference among surveyed organizations.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.