New Report Details How States are Including Science in ESSA Plans

Wednesday, July 12, 2017Printer-friendly version

Washington, D.C. — July 12, 2017 — Achieve today released a new brief examining ways in which the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) supports science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Due to additional flexibility for states and funding provisions written into the law, ESSA provides opportunities for states to develop new programs and initiatives in support of STEM education.

“Demand for workers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics continues to rise,” said Michael Cohen, president of Achieve. “It is critical to our country’s economic future that states work to ensure that students graduate from high school equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue higher education and careers in STEM fields. ESSA represents an opportunity for states to innovate and expand their K–12 STEM educational offerings.”

Achieve’s analysis of submitted state ESSA plans, which focused particular attention on science, reveals a number of different ways states have proposed incorporating STEM initiatives moving forward. In addition to proposing STEM-related programming and professional development uses for federal funding, many states are now planning to include science in their redesigned accountability systems. The brief also presents ways in which states currently include science in their statewide assessment systems and graduation requirements.

The full analysis is available here.