Equity and ESSA: Leveraging Educational Opportunity Through the Every Student Succeeds Act

Posted by Learning Policy Institute on January 2, 2017

Equity and ESSA: Leveraging Educational Opportunity Through the Every Student Succeeds Act. By Channa M. Cook-Harvey, Linda Darling-Hammond, Livia Lam, Charmaine Mercer, and Martens Roc. Published by the Learning Policy Institute, November 2016

Despite the American promise of equal educational opportunity for all students, persistent achievement gaps
among more and less advantaged groups of students remain, along with the opportunity gaps that create
disparate outcomes. However, the recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) represents an
opportunity for the federal government, states, districts, and schools to equitably design education systems to
ensure that the students who have historically been underserved by these same education systems receive an
education that prepares them for the demands of the 21st century.

ESSA contains a number of new provisions that can be used to advance equity and excellence throughout our
nation’s schools for students of color, low-income students, English learners, students with disabilities, and
those who are homeless or in foster care. We review these provisions in four major areas: (1) access to learning
opportunities focused on higher-order thinking skills; (2) multiple measures of equity; (3) resource equity;
and (4) evidence-based interventions. Each of the provisions can be leveraged by educators, researchers, policy
influencers, and advocates to advance equity in education for all students.

https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/equity-essa-report