EdLaw
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA as amended; 20 U.S.C. §6301 et seq.)
The 2015 reauthorisation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 — the framework statute for federal K-12 funding (Title I formula funds, Title IV student-support and academic-enrichment grants, and the rest). It binds states and districts as funding conditions rather than regulating vendors; its commercial significance for EdTech is the evidence-based definition that federally funded purchasing is scored against.
Applicability to EdTech
- The evidence tiers live in §7801(21): an activity, strategy or intervention is "evidence-based" when it demonstrates a statistically significant effect based on strong evidence (well-designed and well-implemented experimental study), moderate evidence (quasi-experimental), or promising evidence (correlational with statistical controls) — or, for the fourth tier, demonstrates a rationale based on high-quality research with ongoing evaluation (§7801(21)(A)). "What ESSA tier is your product?" in a US RFP is asking which limb a vendor's efficacy research satisfies.
- Some funding streams restrict spending to the upper tiers (school-improvement funds are the commonly cited example); the general definition itself does not rank purchases — the restriction, where it exists, sits in the individual programme provision, none of which are extracted here yet.
- Other §7801 definitions recur in procurement paperwork: "technology" (§7801(50)), "professional development" (§7801(42)), "local educational agency" (§7801(30)).
Contents
| Document | Covers |
|---|---|
| PURPOSE.md | 20 U.S.C. §6301 — Title I statement of purpose |
| DEFINITIONS.md | §7801 — ESEA general definitions incl. the evidence tiers |
Scope note: programme-specific spending rules that mandate particular tiers (e.g. Title I §1003 school improvement) can be added when a specific funding stream question arises.
Key obligations at a glance
- None on vendors directly — ESSA governs how districts may spend federal funds; the vendor-facing artefact is evidence documentation matched to the §7801(21) tiers.
Enforcement
US Department of Education programme administration (funding conditions, monitoring, audit); no vendor-facing enforcement.
Related
- FERPA / PPRA — the privacy conditions that ride along with the same federal funds
- IDEA — the special-education funding statute alongside ESEA
Sources
- govinfo — 20 U.S.C. §6301 (2024 edition)
- govinfo — 20 U.S.C. §7801 (2024 edition)
- US Department of Education — evidence guidance
Meta
Statute text in the content documents is reproduced verbatim from the govinfo.gov USCODE-2024 edition and built/re-verified mechanically by tools/govinfo/build_us_statutes.py (verify mode; do not hand-edit; §7801 uses the numbered-first label hierarchy). Anchors derived from printed labels ({#sec-7801-21}). The "Applicability" note about tier-restricted funding streams is unextracted background — extract the specific programme provision before relying on it.