Idaho’s education improvement plan gets federal OK

Idaho’s education department says the state’s plan to close the student achievement gap has been approved by the federal government.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra announced Thursday that she found out about the approval from a personal call from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos.

All 50 states are required to submit accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind.

Along with Idaho, the federal government approved plans from Mississippi and Rhode Island on Thursday.

Idaho’s plan seeks to both reduce the number of students who don’t graduate from high school by 75 percent and lower the number of students not proficient in reading/language arts and math by one third over the next five years.

Idaho receives more than $87 million in federal support tied to compliance with the federal law.