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ESEA Flexibility

South Carolina Granted Flexibility

In September 2011, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) offered each state educational agency the opportunity to request flexibility, on behalf of itself and its local education agencies (school districts) and schools, to help them move forward with state and local reforms designed to improve student learning and increase the quality of instructions for all students.

The USED approved South Carolina’s request for ESEA flexibility on July 19, 2012.

Amendments to Initial ESEA Flexibility Request

Since the initial approval, the USED has approved amendments requested by the state:

  • On November 29, 2012, the USED approved amendments to Principle 2: State-Developed Differentiated Recognition, Accountability, and Support.
  • On February 12, 2013, the USED approved amendments to Principle 3: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership to the Educator Evaluation Guidelines.
  • On January 14, 2014, the USED approved amendments to Principle 3: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership with regard to extending the timeline required by ESEA flexibility to use the results of South Carolina’s teacher and principal evaluation and support systems to inform personnel decisions.
  • On June 2, 2014, the USED approved amendments to Principle 2 State-Developed Differentiated Recognition, Accountability, and Support.

On March 17, 2014, South Carolina submitted the following request, which was approved on August 21, 2014.

  • To propose changes to Principle 3: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership to the Educator Evaluation Guidelines:
    • Delay implementation of student growth measures for teachers in non-tested grades and subjects until the 2015-16 school year;
    • Value-added calculations will be performed for teachers in relevant tested grades and subjects in 2014-15; and
    • For teachers in non-tested grades and subjects, student growth measures will be calculated using Student Learning Objectives in 2015-16.
Other Activity

The USED invited South Carolina and other applicable states the opportunity to request a one-year extension of ESEA flexibility through the end of the 2014-15 school year. 

On March 17, 2014, South Carolina submitted an extension request, amendment template, and redlined amended request. On July 31, 2014, the USED approved South Carolina's one-year ESEA Flexibility Request Extension.

On June 11, 2014, the South Carolina State Board of Education approved the “South Carolina Expanded Educator Support and Evaluation Guidelines.” (PDF, 759 kb)
Appendix A (PDF, 164 kb)

On October 2, 2014, South Carolina notified the USED of its intent to request flexibility to delay, by one year, inclusion of student growth on state assessments in evaluation and support systems during the transition to new assessments ed with college- and career-ready standards in its 2015-16 ESEA Flexibility Renewal Request. This measure would align teachers in tested grades and subjects with those teachers in non-tested grades and subjects on the same timeline in measuring student growth as a significant part of the teachers’ evaluations.

The USED invited South Carolina and other applicable states with requests that will expire at the end of the 2014-15 school year, with an opportunity to request a three-year renewal of ESEA flexibility, which would extend through the end of the 2017-18 school year or until the reauthorization of ESEA.

On March 31, 2015, South Carolina submitted its red-lined ESEA Flexibility Renewal Form and Request which included the March, 11, 2015, approved South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The renewal request also included the March 11, 2015, approved Expanded Assisting Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching Support and Evaluation System Guidelines for Classroom-Based Teachers and the Program for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Principal Performance Implementation Guidelines.

On July 9, 2015, the USED granted South Carolina's request for a three-year Renewal, through the end of the 2017-18 school year (see "Other SCDE Links" below)

The SCDE submitted to the U.S. Department of Education (USED) an amendment to our approved waiver renewal request under Section 1111(b)(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The purpose of that amendment was to change the high school assessment.

Specifically, that amendment would make English 1 and Algebra 1 End Of Course tests the required high school assessment for accountability. In addition, the amendment would update the timeline for assessment procurements and contract award.

On January 28, 2016, the USED approved South Carolina's request to use the Algebra 1 and English Language 1 end-of-course assessments for Federal accountability purposes in school year 2014-2015 and in future years.

Other SCDE Links

Additional Resources & Information

External Resources