Every Student Succeeds Act

The Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal education law passed in 2015, is part of what would seem to be a dying breed: major pieces of domestic policy legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. How did ESSA come to be? And what does it mean for American students?

Under ESSA, states have new freedom to design their own accountability systems for schools. Will they innovate or will they retreat from real accountability?

Randall Reback, professor of economics at Barnard College and Columbia University, talks with EdNext’s Paul Peterson about flexibility for states under the new Every Student Succeeds Act.