2026 ESSA Plan Amendment

As of July 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education officially approved New Mexico’s 2026 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Consolidated State Plan (CSP) amendment. The amendment includes three substantive changes.

Partial Attendance

New Mexico changed its methodology for determining students’ full academic year (FAY) status, in order for student records to be included in the State’s system of annual meaningful differentiation. Specifically, students are considered FAY if they are enrolled in a school during the first three snapshots (taken at the 40, 80, and 120 day of instruction) and they have a valid test record or remain enrolled through the end of the testing window.

Accountability for Small Schools

New Mexico amended its business rules for including small schools with subgroups that do not meet minimum n-size requirements in its system of annual meaningful differentiation. New Mexico first aggregates data across three years (alternatively, two years of data are used if three years of data are not available and using two years allows the school to reach the minimum n-size for applicable indicators). For schools that do not meet minimum n-size requirements using three years of data, a feeder pattern is applied, and the rating from the school to which most students matriculate is applied to the small school.

College and Career Readiness Indicator

New Mexico updated the list of available measures for its College and Career Readiness (CCR) indicator for high schools. The list includes career and technical education concentrator status and an expanded set of Advanced Placement exams.

Click here to read the revised ESSA CSP Title 1(A)

Questions: Reach out to David Winjum