Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act

Signed into law December 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 by replacing key requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. ESSA, a federal education law, creates a long-term commitment to equal opportunity for all students, provides states with additional flexibility, and encourages states and schools to innovate and build upon past success while at the same time, being accountable for students. ESSA includes provisions that help to ensure success for students and schools:

Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students
Requires that all students be taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in college and careers
Ensures educators, families, students, and communities receive annual statewide assessment information that is vital to measuring students’ progress toward high standards
Helps support innovative approaches including evidence-based strategies and interventions
Maintains an expectation of accountability and action to impact positive change in South Carolina’s schools

ESSA Consolidated State Plan

ESSA Consolidated State Plan
Pursuant to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), South Carolina developed a Consolidated State Plan, first implemented in the 2017-18 school year. Between February 27, 2020 and January 7, 2021, the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), following a reasonable opportunity for public comment, submitted an amendment request to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department). SCDE filed a subsequent amended state plan in Fall of 2023 updating the timeline for achieving state goals, updating the academic achievement indicator to modify the reporting cohort for the high schools and updating the School Quality or Student Success Indicator to the School Climate indicator.

Summary of 2021 Amendment

Other Academic Indicator

The SCDE refined how it calculates student academic growth. The State continues to calculate a value-added score for each student; 50 percent of the growth points come from the growth index for the all students group and 50 percent of the growth index points come from the lowest quintile of students in the grade level of that school.

School Quality or Student Success (SQSS) Indicator

For its School Quality or Student Success (SQSS) indicator for the elementary and middle school grade span based on science assessments, SCDE revised the performance labels for the indicator to reflect the fact that the State changed science assessments in 2018; the new science assessments has a different number of achievement standards than the prior science test. This change is needed so that the indicator labels align with the performance levels used for SCDE's reading/language arts and mathematics assessments.
SCDE removed the social studies assessment from its SQSS indicator for elementary and middle schools, which previously included performance on both the science and social studies assessments. The weighting of the SQSS indicator is unchanged.
SCDE removed references to two future SQSS indicators for elementary and middle schools: an indicator for participation and mastery in non-tested subjects (arts, technology, and STEM), and a college and career readiness indicator that was a reported element only and not a part of the weighted point index.

South Carolina Amendment Approval
On January 15, 2021, the SCDE received notification from the Department that South Carolina’s amended Consolidated State Plan met the requirements in the ESEA and had, therefore, been approved.