Federal Policy

Through a mixture of laws, regulations, guidance, and incentives, the federal government serves to protect the rights of the nation's disadvantaged students and their access to the public education system. In this section you will find information on federal policies, including the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  

U.S. Capitol dome with flag
School board members in front of Old Executive Office Building
Young boy waving American flag

Stories from the Field

How ESSA is Helping One School District Recruit Great Teachers

The single most important factor for student learning is a great teacher, but recruiting and retaining great teachers has been a major challenge, especially for high-needs schools where teacher burnout and turnover is rampant. The Clark County Education Association (CCEA), however, seems to have discovered a solution to the problem...

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Diplomas Now: A Model of Collaboration and Innovation

First posted July 2013. We know a great deal about the high school dropout problem. From the research of Robert Balfanz and others, we know where dropouts are likely to come from – the majority attends a small subset of high schools where the graduation rate is 60% or lower...

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LFA Updates

Fatigued By School Reform Shows How Washington Gets It Wrong

In his new book, veteran policy analyst Jack Jennings shows how federal initiatives have missed the critical issues in K-12 education and society

Jack Jennings is legendary in K-12 education policy. He spent more than 50 years in Washington—divided between serving as the head staffer on the House Education and Labor Committee and founder of the Center on Education Policy. As a young federal reporter at Education Week in the 1990s, Jack was...

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LFA Members Blast White House Budget Proposal

Fiscal 2019 proposal would spend billions on defense and infrastructure, advocates call plan "devastating" to critical K-12 programs

The fiscal 2019 budget put forth by the Trump administration today would spend billions of dollars more than the federal government will take in, breaking promises to balance the federal budget, yet K-12 education is once again shortchanged. Members of the Learning First Alliance spoke out against the proposal as...

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Member Resources

6 Keys to Engaging Families in ESSA

National PTA has identified six critical ways states, school districts and schools should be engaging parents and families as part of ESSA or any new education initiative. Learn what they are, and use their new rubric to evaluate how your state, school district and school are doing.

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ESSA and Professional Learning

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes many provisions that influence how educators experience professional learning. Learning Forward offers several resources related to ESSA to help educators at all levels advocate and implement meaningfully, including: A New Vision For Professional Learning: A Toolkit to Help States Use ESSA to Advance...

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