From regions across Washington, educators are developing strategies to improve student learning in each of the state’s 322 school districts.

Dr. Ann Renker, assistant superintendent of Teaching and Learning for the Sequim School District, recently was selected to serve on the School and District Improvement work group through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Every Student Succeeds Act — legislation that replaced No Child Left Behind — requires states to develop a plan for improving education.

To develop the plan, work is being divided among multiple teams and workgroups, with representation from across the state.

“There are 15 people in this particular work group,” Renker said. “We were chosen from a pool of 85 applicants and represent districts by geography, demographics, experience with school improvement and success with school improvement.”

Renker attended the first school and district improvement work group meeting in Tumwater on April 28.

“The ESSA meetings are very interesting and informative,” Renker said. “Our focus for that meeting was on developing a clear understanding of the language in the federal law, since my work group is charged with the task of developing the requirements for sustainable interventions and school/district improvement processes.”

Each work group comes up with recommendations to be submitted to the Every Student Succeeds Act Consolidated Plan Team and ultimately to the state superintendent’s office and eventually on to the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., for approval.

The 2016-2017 school year is a transitional year and the Every Student Succeeds Act will be fully operational in school year 2017-2018.

“Because discretionary decisions haven’t been made yet, there is room for more local control at the state and district level, and what that local control is going to look like is the work of these workgroups,” Renker said.

For more information about the Every Student Succeeds Act, see www.k12.wa.us/ESEA/ESSA.