This past Monday was the early deadline for states to submit their Every Student Succeeds Act plans to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for approval. Alyson Klein reports that, as of Monday evening, nine states and the District of Columbia had turned in their plans, according to the U.S. Department of Education. States have been told that they can submit their plans by May 3 if they still need time for their governors to review their plans. States that are not submitting their plans in April and May can submit their plans in September.

Andrew Ujifusa of Politics K-12 has written about how these states plan to rate schools and at how these states are handling the issue of schools with large numbers of students opting out of state tests.

A recent Education Next forum looked at the pros and cons of different ways for states to rate schools.

In “The Long Path to ESSA,” Rick Hess and Max Eden explain how we got this new federal education law and the big picture of what will  mean for schools and states.

— Education Next

P.S. David Griffith thinks Colorado’s plan is great.