The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) today announced the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has approved New Jersey’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan, the federal education law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). To date, New Jersey is one of only a few states in the country to have its ESSA State Plan approved by the USED.

The development of New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan provided the opportunity to collaborate with hundreds of stakeholders and bolster initiatives which educators are already implementing to improve instruction, promote and align fair accountability, raise student expectations and administer a meaningful high-quality assessment.

New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan emphasizes these main approaches to accountability:

· Focus on each and every child by shining a light on the performance of individual student groups through the accountability formula.

· Align and streamline state assistance so schools receive coordinated support based on the specific needs of their students.

· Enrich the state vision of what makes a school successful by adding many new measures to our school performance reports and making the reports more understandable and accessible to educators, parents, families, and community members.

“Developed by New Jersey educators and parents in the best interest of New Jersey students, our ESSA State Plan builds on a strong foundation of excellence and allows us to continually improve how we support the success of each and every child,” said New Jersey Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington. “We will continue to engage with diverse groups of parents, educators, students and broader community members as we implement New Jersey’s ESSA State Plan for the 2017-18 school year.”

Over the coming months, the NJDOE will begin implementing the approved plan by working to improve all of its systems of support so schools that need the most help receive coordinated and targeted assistance. In addition, NJDOE will be assisting school districts as they submit their own plans to the NJDOE by the end of August.