The 2015 update of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, provides states greater flexibility to make policy decisions. In their implementation plans, states must articulate how they plan to engage a diverse set of stakeholders — including elected officials, local education agencies, representatives of Indian tribes, educators, staff and parents — in making these decisions.
This paper from the Education Commission of the States offers a framework for engaging stakeholders in a way that emphasizes collaboration over traditional methods. The paper offers four principles to guide collaborative stakeholder engagement as well as questions that state should consider as they develop their ESSA implementation plans. The ECS framework can also be used to engage stakeholders in the Career Technical Education (CTE) community.
