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Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

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ESSA Programs

Advancing Equity

Fundamentally, ESSA is about creating a set of interlocking strategies to promote educational equity by providing support to districts and schools as they work to ensure that every student succeeds. New York State is committed to ensuring that all students succeed and thrive in school no matter who they are, where they live, where they go to school, or where they come from.

To foster equity, the New York State ESSA plan:

  • addresses disparities in training for teachers to help them be effective in the classroom;
  • provides students more access to rigorous high school coursework;
  • makes schools equally welcoming environments for all students;
  • increases fiscal transparency in school building spending; and
  • uses multiple measures to allow students to demonstrate proficiency in state learning standards.

Every student includes English language learners, students with disabilities, low-income students, neglected and delinquent youth, migrant students, homeless students, and students in rural districts where sparse population density creates its own challenges.

ESSA includes a wide array of programs that are designed to help to ensure success for students and schools. These programs provide schools and districts with resources focused on meeting the needs of students, parents and families, teachers, and school leaders.

Below, please find information, resources, technical assistance, data, and reports on the New York State Education Department (NYSED) ESSA programs.

Title I, Part A - Improving Basic Programs Operated by LEAs

Title I, Part A provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts/schools with a high percentage of children from low-income families, to provide all children a significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, high-quality education and to close educational achievement gaps.

Title I, Part C - Migrant Education

The New York State Migrant Education Program establishes or improves programs of education, including support services, for migratory children and their families.

Title I, Part D - Neglected & Delinquent Education

Title I, Part D provides supplemental educational/transitional services to students in residential facilities across New York State.

Title II, Part A - Supporting Effective Instruction

Title II, Part A is designed to advance excellence in teaching and learning and to promote equity in educational opportunity throughout the State.

Title III - Language Instruction for English Language Learners and Immigrant Students

Title III is designed to enable English Language Learners/Multilingual Learners and Immigrant Students to develop English language proficiency, as well as access the State’s challenging academic standards, through the provision of high-quality instruction and support.

Title IV, Part A - Student Support and Academic Enrichment

Title IV, Part A provides supplemental funding to help provide students with a well-rounded education, improve school conditions and improve the use of technology.

Title V, Part B - Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)

Title V, Part B provides additional resources to assist rural districts in meeting state definitions for the New York State Accountability System.

McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youths

Title IX, Part A (the McKinney-Vento Act) provides support to ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate, public education; including a public preschool education, with the opportunity to meet the same challenging state content and student performance standards.

Data Reporting

NYSED is committed to making data available and easy to use. Our public data website provides data on high school graduation rates, grades 3-8 test scores, and school report cards.

Equitable Services for Nonpublic Schools

Equitable Services for Nonpublic schools under Sections 1117(a)(4)(C) and 8501(a)(4)(C) of the Every Student Succeeds Act requires that each State educational agency shall provide notice in a timely manner to the appropriate private school officials in the State of the allocation of funds for educational services and other benefits that the local educational agencies have determined are available for eligible private school children.

Information about substantial equivalency of instruction is available here.

School Climate / Educating the Whole Child

A positive school climate promotes school safety, student self-esteem, emotional well-being, mental health, and lower incidences of substance abuse, student absenteeism, and suspensions. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) continues to promote initiatives to foster student engagement and thereby increase student achievement, safety, and wellness. Efforts will be expanded to provide capacity-building guidance; strategies; best-practice resources; and professional development for school administrators, instructional staff, and non-instructional staff in the following areas to advance these initiatives.

  • Dignity for All Students Act
  • Social Emotional Learning
  • Mental Health Education
  • Trauma Sensitive Schools
  • Restorative Practices and Reducing Exclusionary Discipline
  • School Climate Survey Pilot
Supporting Students with Disabilities

The New York State ESSA plan incorporates the principles of multitiered systems of support (MTSS) as a framework for both academic and behavioral instruction. MTSS is grounded in the belief that all students can learn and all school professionals are responsive to the academic and behavioral needs of all students. MTSS focuses on evidence-based practices, relies on student progress data to inform instructional decisions and ensures that each student, based on their unique needs, receives the level and type of support necessary to be successful.

Through its State Systemic Improvement Plan, NYSED is piloting the implementation of MTSS in 14 New York State schools. This pilot is designed to increase the capacity of school districts to implement, scale-up, and sustain evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. The SSIP focuses on providing tiered intervention based upon students’ unique needs, using a lens that is responsive to each student’s social identity, culture and language.

The New York State ESSA plan also supports effective transition practices throughout a student’s educational experience and fosters coordinated transitions from early childhood education to postsecondary education. This emphasis on coordinated transitions directly aligns with the Department’s initiatives in transition planning for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This alignment also promotes the development of schoolwide inclusive systems of transitions, based on a student’s individual needs, experiences, interests, and aspirations.