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ESSA’s Fifth Indicator: A NASBE Policy Update Series


The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) paved the way for states to create holistic accountability systems that measure school quality and student success by means other than academic test scores. States incorporated a variety of “fifth indicators” in state plans they submitted this spring for review by the U.S. Department of Education, while others are weighing which indicators to include in their fall submission.

This NASBE policy update series explores the pros and cons of five frequently discussed indicators. It highlights what states have proposed in their ESSA plans so far and offers key considerations for state boards that are refining their plans for September submission.

From this series:

Career and Technical Education
School Climate and Student Discipline
Social and Emotional Learning
Chronic Absenteeism
Access to High-Level Course Work


Career and Technical Education

School Climate and School Discipline

Social and Emotional Learning

Chronic Absenteeism

Accessing High-Level Coursework



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    With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states can include a student growth indicator as a measure of school quality in their accountability systems. Most of them do. Nine states also saw this as an opportunity and added a separate growth measure for the bottom quartile and quintile of students.

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