Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On December 10, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law as Public Law Number 114-95. ESSA
reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 “to
ensure that every child achieves.”(1)
ESSA is the nation’s general education law and, as such, has been
revised by Congress many times over the years. The last reauthorization
took place in 2001 and was called the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
The page you’re on right now replaces the information CPIR used to offer
on NCLB.
Given the importance of education in the lives of children with and
without disabilities, it comes as no surprise that the education
community is highly motivated to learn the in’s and out’s of the
ESSA—what’s new, what’s different, what must now change in how we
approach and deliver education to the nation’s 50.1 million students in
public elementary and secondary schools across the country.