Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a new federal education law (replacing No Child Left Behind) that provides states with a great deal of flexibility in a number of key areas, including academic standards, accountability, support for school improvement, student and educator support, and use of federal education funds.

New! Open for Public Comment: Amended ESSA State Plan

The U.S. Department of Education permits states to update their ESSA State Plans through an amendment process. As part of this process, RIDE must post the draft amendment for public comment for a thirty (30) day period. You may view the Amended ESSA State Plan below. Public comment on the draft amendment, as linked below, may be submitted by email to ESSA@ride.ri.gov and will be accepted through Sunday, November 6th.

Amended ESSA State Plan - FULL TEXT, Posted October 6, 2023. 

2021-22 ESSA State Plan Addendum 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education waived certain assessment, accountability, and school identification requirements for states for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. Accordingly, 2022 will be Rhode Island’s first year back to its statewide accountability system, including Star Ratings and school identifications. 

In 2022, Rhode Island aims to keep school accountability as consistent as possible with previous years. However, some one-year adjustments will be necessary due to waiving accountability in previous years and other effects of the pandemic. 

To implement those one-year changes, Rhode Island intends to seek an addendum to the state’s ESSA State Plan for the 2021-22 school year. Public comment on the draft addendum, as linked below, may be submitted by email to ESSA@ride.ri.gov and will be accepted through Wednesday, July 6th.

Rhode Island's Return to School Star Ratings – Overview of the Addendum

Draft ESSA State Plan Addendum for 2022 – FULL TEXT, Posted June 6, 2022

USED Approves RI's ESSA State Plan

The USED submitted feedback on Rhode Island's ESSA state plan earlier this year. RIDE responded to the feedback requests and has updated our final plan, which we resubmitted and was approved on March 29, 2018 by the USED.

ESSA State Plan Submission to USED

Thank you to all for your feedback on the draft ESSA State Plan. Governor Raimondo signed the plan on September 13, 2017, indicating her support. We have submitted our plan to USED, which has until January 18, 2018 to provide feedback.