CCSSO Annual Report

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CCSSO 2025 Annual Report

State Leadership for Student Outcomes

COUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS
ANNUAL REPORT 2025

Greetings,

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is grateful for the opportunity to support you, the education leaders in the nation’s states and territories, in your commitment to improve outcomes for all students.

In 2025, CCSSO ushered in a new strategic framework focused on what matters most to us as an organization — our members, operational excellence, fiscal sustainability and impact. Over the past year, our mission has remained that, through leadership, advocacy and service, CCSSO will assist chief state school officers and their organizations “in achieving the vision of an American education system that enables all children to succeed in school, work and life.” Whether that is publishing the latest research on a topic or providing the time and space to meet and discuss the issues that are at the forefront for state leaders, we are constantly working to proactively meet your needs.

As you will see in this report, we have accomplished quite a bit together in the past year. We kept our state members informed and updated amid constant changes at the federal level. We expanded our High-Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development Network and built new resources on how all states and territories can create instructional coherence for schools and districts. We are on a path to creating a standard process for states and territories to access data on students who go into military service. Those are just a few of our successes. Please read more in our 2025 Annual Report and share our progress together.

We understand each of you operate in different contexts with different challenges, and we are proud to support your leadership. We are invested in states’ action for student success and look forward to supporting you in the year ahead.

Thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely, 

Carissa Moffat-Miller

Carissa Moffat Miller
Chief Executive Officer
CCSSO

Chris Reykdal
President
CCSSO Board of Directors

Our Work

The Council of Chief State School Officers, through leadership, advocacy and service, assists chief state school officers and their organizations in achieving the vision of an American education system that enables all children to succeed in school, work and life. State education agencies play a crucial role in creating the conditions for districts and schools to be effective, and CCSSO works to ensure state leaders have the skills, tools and resources they need to deliver their goals for students.

Our Vision

As America's chief state school officers, we are committed to ensuring that all students participating in our public education system — regardless of background — graduate prepared for college, careers and life.

Our Goals

Membership

CCSSO is the premier K-12 membership organization for state education chiefs and their senior state education agency leaders.

Fiscal Sustainability

CCSSO is a fiscally healthy and sustainable organization that supports our state members and their impact on the educational system.

Operational Excellence

CCSSO is a nimble, technology-savvy, service-delivery-oriented organization that delivers high-quality, responsive services to our state members and our organizational partners.

Impact

CCSSO is the most influential and impactful education organization in the country on K-12 education issues for state education leaders.

Our Impact

0 %

of chiefs and deputies are satisfied with membership in CCSSO

0

meetings held virtually and in person

0 %

of deputies say CCSSO has timely communication

World Class net promoter score

0 %

of CCSSO Collaboratives members are satisfied with the relevance to their job

0

states and territories served through our Collaboratives

CCSSO continues to be a national leader for the state chiefs. They are proactive in addressing issues impacting all of us and in keeping us apprised as the issues evolve. They are responsive to each of us in our varying political contexts, which is not an easy feat! I can always count on CCSSO to be a collaborative partner.
-Carey M. Wright, State Superintendent of Schools, Maryland
CCSSO membership is a must for any state chief. By connecting to other states on issues affecting federal and state policy, chiefs benefit from the knowledge of the CCSSO staff, colleagues and access to other resources that benefit states.
-Stephen Dackin, Director, Department of Education and Workforce, Ohio

Our Progress

Growing a Nation of Problem-Solvers
In 2025, we built on our support to state education leaders and partners to strengthen math outcomes for students nationwide. CCSSO’s Growing a Nation of Problem-Solvers: A Summit on Math Outcomes explored how states can advance math achievement and prepare students for a rapidly changing world. The summit sparked actionable ideas, strengthened partnerships and highlighted the evolving role of mathematics in education systems nationwide. That momentum continued at CCSSO’s 2025 Annual Policy Forum, where state education leaders shared how they are leveraging their authority to enact policies, forge cross-sector relationships and connect mathematics learning to real-world skills and student success.
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Quality Materials and Support
Seven years into CCSSO’s High-Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development (IMPD) Network, more than 4.8 million students across IMPD Network states have access to high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in English language arts and more than 5.8 million have access to HQIM in math. The Network launched in 2017 includes 16 states that are supporting their districts in selecting high-quality curricula and in providing their educators and aspiring educators with curriculum-based professional learning. In 2025, five states engaged in an aligned Network of states and their partners working to expand access to HQIM to prekindergarten students and educators. Check out the latest IMPD Impact Report and Making Sense of Instructional Coherence at the State Level to learn how states can set conditions to provide more coherent academic experiences for students with HQIM at the center, which will continue to be an area of focus in 2026.
Photo credit: Adelicia Company
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Fostering Connection
CCSSO offers unmatched dedication to connecting state chiefs and their state education agency teams to foster personal connections with the finite group of leaders who share the experiences of their role. CCSSO hosts monthly calls exclusively for state chiefs that are intentionally informal, with discussion based on timely topics. Deputies, federal liaisons and communications directions in state education agencies have similar opportunities for informative discussions among peers facilitated by CCSSO. At CCSSO’s Summer Leadership Convening, state chiefs and senior agency leaders come together to reflect on and refine their approach for leading in a changing landscape. CCSSO also designates time during CCSSO member meetings for territorial leaders to build connections and discuss current priorities in an informal setting. In 2025, CCSSO’s Collaborative professional learning communities added cross-Collaborative state team time to meetings so state members can reflect on key takeaways and strengthen cross-agency alignment for strategic implementation.
Focusing on Facts
In times of uncertainty, state education leaders deserve clear, accurate information. In 2025, amid significant shifts across the education landscape, CCSSO dispatched in-the-moment communications when warranted through calls, emails, weekly updates and webinars. Our team sent more than 60 emails to state chiefs and deputies with timely information — outside of our weekly and monthly newsletters. When asked, all responding deputies affirmed that CCSSO provided access to timely information that helped them better do their jobs.
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Leading to Improve Student Outcomes
CCSSO’s States Leading Network (SLN) supports a group of states to gain the strategy, support and peer connections they request to lead the work that improves student outcomes. Launched in 2025, the SLN will support states in setting and executing their priorities and goals, identifying challenges with existing policies and budgets and building and implementing multiyear plans aligned to their priorities. The Network is working with eight states, and CCSSO will share insights, learnings and resources with all CCSSO state and territorial members as they navigate federal shifts and work to raise student achievement—something that has already begun with CCSSO’s monthly federal funds webinars and workshops.
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Supporting Members at the Federal Level
CCSSO’s federal support to state members remained a key priority in 2025. From providing members and state leaders with access to timely, thorough updates in a quickly changing policy environment to advocating on chiefs’ behalf when federal funds were at risk, CCSSO stepped in swiftly to ensure student learning wasn’t disrupted amid changes at the federal level. In addition to regular email updates, CCSSO facilitated conversations, often with federal representatives and state education leaders, to discuss breaking announcements, outline organizational changes and solicit feedback from state leaders on key federal policy. CCSSO urged congressional appropriators to preserve critical federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) — two top priorities of CCSSO members. When federal K-12 education policy was discussed on Capitol Hill, CCSSO ensured state voices were at the table, supporting state chiefs called to testify before congressional panels.
Supporting Military Pathways
In 2025, we entered a second phase of a joint effort with the U.S. Department of War (DoW) and several state education leaders to help states better prepare and measure student achievement in a military career path. CCSSO, DoW and a group of state leaders in 2024 launched the Military Enlistment Data Access to Lift Student Success (MEDALS) collaboration to create processes that evaluate student readiness related to a successful transition into the military. Five state education agencies are now piloting a prototype data-sharing agreement for initial testing this fall. At the end of the work, the MEDALS project team will analyze the results to determine any adjustments that may be needed to the agreement and data elements. The team anticipates a broader rollout to additional states in the 2026-2027 school year.
Learn More

Leader Voices

Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey shares how the state is working to provide resources to accelerate student learning in math.

Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Jacob Oliva discusses the importance of aligning standards and designing systems to support educators.

Washington Office of Public Instruction Superintendent Chris Reykdal discusses the importance of having a holistic approach to support accelerated math instruction.
Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods speaks on expanding early access to advanced math courses.
Given the benefits of membership, I would and have highly recommended the organization.
-Charlene Russell-Tucker, Commissioner of Education, Connecticut
In addition to the resources and regular communication, I really appreciate the accessibility of staff when we have a person-to-person need.
-Debbie Critchfield, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Idaho
Thank You!
We are grateful to our state members for your continued trust in CCSSO. We are strong in part because of your engagement and partnership.
Thank you to our Education Champions, whose generous support ensures
we are supporting our members as they achieve one purpose: improving student outcomes.



Thank you to our Education Champions, whose generous support ensures
we are supporting our members as they achieve one purpose: improving student outcomes.



Thank you to our National Teacher of the Year Program sponsors
for celebrating extraordinary teachers.

Direct engagement with state leaders helps surface real-time priorities and challenges. These conversations guide how we turn research into practice with practical support and sustained partnerships with states to improve student outcomes.
-
Mary Wall, Vice President of Policy and Engagement, Curriculum Associates

Financials

FISCAL YEAR 2025

Revenue

CCSSO had a total of $30,576,672 in revenue in 2025.

FISCAL YEAR 2025

Expenses

CCSSO had a total of $28,719,924 in expenses in 2025.