Upon the final passage of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) by the U.S. Senate, Commissioner of Education Michael Williams issued a statement which noted: “The Texas Education Agency will now focus on working through the specific details of this federal legislation to help explain to our districts and charters the many aspects included in this bill. It’s important to note that the rollout of our state’s new teacher and principal evaluation systems will continue, but without federal demands to include student test scores as a mandatory aspect.”