U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has announced the approval of South Carolina and Virginia’s consolidated state plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

“The state plans meet the requirements of ESSA, and I am pleased to approve them,” said Secretary DeVos. “As implementation begins, I look forward to seeing how local leaders are able to use the flexibility afforded by ESSA to innovate on behalf of their students.”

Allowing states more flexibility in how they deliver education to students is at the heart of ESSA. Each state crafted a plan that it feels will best offer educational opportunities to meet the needs of the state and its students.

“South Carolina’s ESSA plan embodies our vision that every graduate is prepared for success in college, career and citizenship,” said South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. “This vision is carried out using multiple metrics to deliver rigorous and personalized instruction to every student.”

The following are some of the unique elements from South Carolina’s approved plan:

• The differentiated model for meeting interim targets based upon each school’s baseline allows the statewide goals to be individualized to a particular school.
• Measures nine different ways a student can demonstrate college and career readiness by the time they graduate high school. These differentiated college and career readiness metrics allow students to drive their post-secondary goals and maximize the world class knowledge and skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
• Reports on their level of engagement and academic opportunities through the student engagement survey. Having the student “voice” in the accountability system is a first for South Carolina.

South Carolina's state plan has also been commended by national groups such as Results for America's Evidence in Education Lab for the inclusion of state developed, evidence-based interventions for low-performing schools.The tiered system of school and district support along with state provided transformation coaches are at the core of these intervention programs.

The full state plan as approved by the USDE can be viewed here.

The approval letter from Secretary DeVos can be viewed here.