The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives states more power than they had under previous federal law to determine which schools are low-performing and gives school districts greater latitude to decide on strategies to improve these schools. This report describes findings from the first phase of a project by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) designed to learn more about state and local implementation of ESSA's evidence requirements and the roles of education leaders and researchers in advancing evidence use in school improvement. The findings reported are from interviews conducted by CEP staff with state officials who oversee school improvement in seven states. The interviews focused on state experiences with initial implementation of the ESSA evidence requirements, including state efforts to identify evidence-based interventions and assist districts with their school improvement efforts.