The Hill News

Chief state school officers around the nation are calling on Congress to act now to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which has been due for revision since 2007. In the absence of reauthorization, state leaders are boldly committing to advancing education reforms that result in positive educational outcomes for all students. With or without Congressional action on ESEA, achieving this goal is a moral, economic, and national security imperative.

More than at any other time in our nation’s history, state leaders are overcoming the longstanding political barriers to education reform. The results of this effort have been dramatic, transforming the very structures upon which statewide school systems operate. At the heart of these state-level reforms is a shared belief that our public education systems must prepare all students to graduate from high school ready to succeed.

With efforts to establish college- and career-ready standards ! and assessments well under way, states are now moving to design and implement next-generation accountability systems to ensure these reforms lead to results for our nation’s children. State leaders agree that accountability systems must be richer, more ambitious, and more useful to the educators working to dramatically improve student achievement.

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