The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into law in December 2015 and it was the first update to the main law on K-12 education in more than a decade. Keeping informed of upcoming changes is critical to ensure optimal implementation on new policies.

It’s now time for the law to become policy as policymakers prepare to roll it out over the coming year. To do this well is going to require the same kind of delicate balance to implement the new law that it took to pass the initial law in the first place.

ESSA Update: A Delicate Balance to Implement the New Law

The previous law—the well-known No Child Left Behind—depended on standardized tests to measure success. Now, with ESSA, the dimensions have changed to include a range of measurements including test scores, graduation rates, and another criterion that’s still to be determined at the state and local level that aims to measure the quality of the education.

The implementation is going to depend on each state and will also require a sense of equity in applying, given the law-driven focus. As reported in EdWeek, “States and districts also get to decide how…long-overlooked groups—such as students of color, English-language learners, and children with disabilities—aren’t performing up to snuff.”

States will now be setting their own goals for many areas. This is something new and some states are already moving forward with their ESSA blueprints. This FAQ document from Excel in Ed provides many answers to questions being asked by states as they move toward implementation of the new law in the 2017-18 academic year. It’s worth downloading just to have a good sense of what to expect from ESSA implementation at the state level.

It will be an interesting year in K-12 education especially now that the new Trump administration is taking over from the Obama administration.