Available via the United States Department of Education’ss web site is a set of materials that provide a substantive overview of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility process—also known as ESEA waivers—by which 34 states and the District of Columbia have applied for and received flexibility regarding certain provisions of ESEA. The intent of these materials—a brochure and five companion fact sheets—is to explain the rationale and intent of ESEA flexibility, as well as address its key components and highlight plan elements for a number of states approved for flexibility.  For the ease of your members and affiliates, all of the documents can be easily printed and produced as front-to-back copies; the fact sheets are two-pagers, and the brochure is a tri-fold.

The brochure and fact sheets can be found on the Department’s updated ESEA flexibility web page: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/.  Individual links to the documents are below:

•  “The Opportunity of ESEA Flexibility” (brochure) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/esea-flex-brochure.pdf   
   
•  “Protecting School and Student Accountability”? (fact sheet) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/protecting-accountability.pdf

•   “Advancing Accountability and Graduation Rates” (fact sheet) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/graduation-rates.pdf

•   “Continuing to Expose and Close Achievement Gaps”? (fact sheet) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/close-achievement-gaps.pdf

•   “Turning Around the Lowest-Performing Schools”? (fact sheet) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/turn-around.pdf

•  “Supporting Teachers, Leaders, and Local Innovation” (fact sheet) — http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/resources/supporting-innovation.pdf