UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

August 5, 2016

Dear Colleague:

Thank you for the important work you are engaged in to transition to the new Every Student 

Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 

as amended (ESEA). I am writing today to provide information about technical assistance and 

resources available to you to support your State’s transition to the ESSA over the next few 

months. The new law provides time and authority for the U.S. Department of Education 

(Department) to work with State and local partners to ensure a smooth and orderly transition to 

ESSA. 

During this time, your needs for technical assistance will likely evolve. To support this 

transition, my office is committed to continuing to provide technical assistance that is timely, 

relevant, results-oriented, and based on individual State needs and context.

 

The Regional Comprehensive Centers and national Content Centers are available to support your 

State’s orderly transition to the ESSA. I encourage you to work with your Regional 

Comprehensive Center liaisons to identify current or emerging needs for transition support. This 

fall, the Department expects to receive technical assistance plans from Regional Comprehensive 

Centers and national Content Centers that outline ongoing or planned transition support for fiscal 

year 2017. 

We are committed to working with our network of Comprehensive Centers, other Departmentfunded technical assistance providers, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and partner 

organizations to address common challenges and provide opportunities to exchange ideas and 

promising practices with your colleagues across the country. The Department’s Office of State 

Support (OSS), working closely with these partners, will use the existing quarterly progress 

check calls and peer group conversations over the coming months to identify your most pressing 

questions and transition challenges to understand where more support is needed. This will 

enable us to effectively direct content expertise and resources where it is needed most to address 

State needs and implementation challenges. 

OSS is also pleased to announce the launch of the State Support Network, a new, four-year

technical assistance effort focused on supporting States and districts as part of the school 

improvement activities authorized under ESEA, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act, 

and, after the transition, the ESSA. The purpose of the State Support Network is to support your 

efforts to achieve significant improvements in student outcomes, scale up effective systemic 

approaches and practices within and across States and districts, and identify and share effective 

practices to facilitate learning from States, districts and others to support school improvement. 

400 MARYLAND AVE., SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20202

http://www.ed.gov/

The U.S. Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by 

fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.
Page 2 – Chief State School Officers

The State Support Network will provide individualized and differentiated support based on State 

and district needs, utilizing national experts and other support organizations to help develop and 

execute technical assistance strategies with respect to school improvement. As we stand up this 

new initiative, we will look to you for input on what supports will be most critical to assist your 

transition in the next year.

The Department is ready to support your work over this transition year and continues to develop 

resources to supplement our technical assistance efforts detailed above. States must continue to 

carry out the activities, outlined in the ESSA transition Dear Colleague Letter (issued January 28, 

2016), that remain most relevant during this transition, including, for example, continuing to 

provide interventions in certain schools and to implement the State’s Educator Equity Plans. As 

the President noted in his Testing Action Plan last fall, we also encourage all States to consider 

how to ensure all State and district assessments align with principles of fewer and smarter 

assessments, including that they are: 1) high quality, 2) worth taking, 3) time-limited, 4) fair, 5) 

transparent, 6) just one of multiple measures, and 7) tied to improved learning. In February, we 

provided additional guidance for how existing Federal funds can support this work. Information 

about the Testing Action Plan, and that funding guidance, can be found at: 

www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/saa.html#Related_Programs_and_Initiatives. We also 

encourage State educational agency leadership to begin engaging with stakeholders about how to 

best implement the ESSA. Secretary King recently issued a Dear Colleague Letter with 

recommendations and resources to assist States as they begin engaging stakeholder groups this 

summer.

The Department has announced proposed regulations for several areas of the ESSA. The 

Department went through the process of negotiated rulemaking this spring on two issues in Title 

I, Part A of the ESEA, as amended by the ESSA: assessments and supplement-not-supplant. 

Additionally, on May 31, 2016, the Department published in the Federal Register a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that includes proposed regulations regarding statewide 

accountability systems under Title I, data reporting under Title I, and State Plans under ESEA. 

On July 11, 2016, the Department published proposed regulations regarding statewide 

assessment requirements under Title I, Part A and the innovative assessment demonstration 

authority under Title I, Part B. The public is invited to comment on the additional proposed 

regulations on or before September 9, 2016 at https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-16124 and 

https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-16125, respectively. 

The Department is working to provide non-regulatory guidance on many provisions in the ESSA. 

We have already provided non-regulatory guidance on the ESSA’s provisions related to students 

in foster care and homeless children and youth, available at: 

http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/essa/index.html. In releasing that guidance, we announced 

that we will be releasing additional guidance under ESSA for early learners; English learners 

(Title III); preparing, training, and recruiting high quality teachers and principals (Title II); and 

student support and academic enrichment (Title IV). In addition to guidance on these topics, the 

Department is still reviewing comments and feedback from the field to determine what, if any, 

additional guidance is a priority for implementation of the law in the 2017−2018 school year. 
Page 3 – Chief State School Officers

While we will continue to seek input on other areas where guidance and technical assistance 

would be helpful, the Department does not plan to propose regulations on any other areas of the 

new law this year. As the Department continues to analyze the ESSA, we will provide additional 

information at: www.ed.gov/essa. 

We will share more information on additional technical assistance opportunities in the coming 

months. As always, we encourage you to work with your OSS State contacts or contact 

ESSA.Questions@ed.gov with any specific questions that you might have around the ESSA. If 

you have additional questions about upcoming opportunities for technical assistance, please 

contact Danielle Smith, Team Lead, Technical Assistance Functional Support in the Office of 

State Support, at: danielle.smith2@ed.gov and Kim Okahara, Team Lead, Technical Assistance 

in the Office of School Support and Rural Programs at: kim.okahara@ed.gov. 

Thank you for your continued commitment to ensuring improved educational opportunities for 

all students. I look forward to continuing to support your efforts to responsibly transition to the 

ESSA as we focus on the work ahead. 

Sincerely,

 //s//

Ann Whalen

Senior Advisor to the Secretary

Delegated the Duties of Assistant 

Secretary for Elementary and Secondary 

Education

cc: State Title I Directors

State Title II Directors

State Title III Directors

State Assessment Directors

State School Improvement Grant Directors

State Equity Directors