State Plans Related to Low-Performing Schools: What's Different About Rural States?

• In Event: The Changing Role of States in Supporting School Turnaround in the Era of the Every Student Succeeds Act

Abstract

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has ushered in a new era of flexibility for state policies and practices related to low-performing schools. Will states make changes? What aspects of change will need support? Will changes and needs differ in rural areas? This descriptive study uses survey data from state leaders working on school turnaround in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. The study found that state leaders are planning changes in policies and practices for low-performing schools in response to ESSA and that rural states are significantly more likely to be making changes in state interventions for persistently low-performing schools. Furthermore, state leaders believed their states needed additional assistance with several aspects of ESSA implementation.

Authors

• Caitlin Scott, Education Northwest

• Kathryn Elizabeth Torres, Education Northwest