Shortly before the Trump administration took office, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) (January 13, 2017) to State Education Agencies (SEAs) regarding the timeline for and provision of interventions in schools identified for improvement. The DCL covered Title I school improvement interventions for the 2017-2018 school year (SY) for both Focus and Priority schools under ESEA Flexibility and schools identified for Improvement, Corrective Action, or Restructuring under NCLB. In addition, it provided a timeline for when schools should be identified for ESSA school improvement as either Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools or Targeted Support and Improvement schools.

The most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), goes into full implementation on July 1, 2017. After July 1^st all ESEA notices need to align with ESSA requirements.However, some ESSA notices are required or needed prior to the July 1^st date. One category of notices needed is the Private Schools Consultation notices.

During the first week of April, members of Congress sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly asking them to uphold the educational provisions of Plyler v. Doe regarding the provision of access to a public education regardless of the child’s or parent’s immigration status.

Earlier I reported that the U.S. Department of Education (USED) hosted a webinar for State Education Agencies (SEAs) related to issues of submission of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plans and Peer Review of those plans once submitted. That post included the information that only three of the nine ESSA programs included in consolidated state submissions will receive peer review. Those that will receive peer review are:

On Wednesday, March 22^nd, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) hosted a webinar for State Education Agencies (SEAs) related to issues of submission of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plans and Peer Review of those plans once submitted. While an ESSA State Plan, if consolidated, should include nine ESSA programs, only three ESSA programs will receive peer review. Those that will receive peer review are:

President Trump’s budget proposal made a big splash by proposing to eliminate funding for some major ESSA programs. The proposal to eliminate the teacher development program under Title II and Title IV, Part B - 21^st Century Community Learning Centers received the most attention.

The U.S. Senate recently voted to approve two resolutions to rescind education regulations. The resolution to rescind the Teacher Preparation regulations was the first to be approved. Those regulations relate to requirements for college and university teacher preparation programs. Later in the week the Senate voted to approve the resolution to rescind the regulations for Accountability and State Plans. The U.S. House passed similar resolutions earlier in the year.

As promised, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) issued an updated template for ESSA State Plans. The document “Revised State Template for the Consolidated State Plan” was posted on March 13, 2017. The updated template follows closely on the heels of the U.S. Senate vote to rescind the regulations for Accountability and State Plans.