The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Opportunities to Improve School Discipline, Climate, and Safety

Describes how ESSA affords states’ increased autonomy to design and use accountability systems that measure student and school success not only through standardized academic measures, including test scores, but more holistically through non-academic measures. This brief explains how nonacademic measures can strengthen state efforts to address issues critical to success such as school discipline, climate, and students’ physical and emotional safety.