Want to know how high U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team will set the bar in approving Every Student Succeeds Act plans? How DeVos handles her home state may provide the answer.

Michigan’s ESSA plan was largely panned in a review by Bellwether Education Consultants and the Collaborative for Student Success. Another outside reviewer declined to rate it, citing incompleteness. The state’s GOP lieutenant governor worried about its impact on students with special needs. And Jason Botel, the acting assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education, called the state to talk about some of the information missing in its plan.

That last moveĀ angered Brian Whiston, Michigan’s state chief, who said the feds were sending mixed messages when it comes to ESSA. DeVos, he said, stressed local control, and told state chiefs in a closed door meeting to hand in their plans even if they weren’t totally complete. But Botel, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, seemed to be working from a different playbook, Whiston said last month…

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