The purpose of this brief is to support stakeholders in their efforts to influence how states use the mandatory 7 percent Title I school improvement set-aside in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)--an allocation that could total more than $5 billion nationwide over the next five years. First, the authors provide an overview of the ESSA's school improvement provisions and discuss how these differ from the school improvement grants (SIGs) in the now-defunct No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. They also review some current approaches to school improvement that aim for more fundamental and effective changes than resulted from SIGs, while considering how they relate to the ESSA's revised evidence requirements. They conclude with recommendations for how education-reform advocates and municipal leaders can participate in shaping state school improvement programs in the ESSA era.