This week, Education Dive took a look at negative response to the Every Student Succeeds Act's "Pay for Success" initiative. Also in K-12, the U.S. Department of Education unveiled its National Education Technology Plan, highlighting best practices for the use of tech in classrooms.

Meanwhile in higher ed, we examined steps institutions should take to create quality competency-based education programs. Are transfers the secret to reaching college completion goals? The Aspen Institute, Columbia University's Teachers College, and Public Agenda think so, as the three have joined forces on a campaign to focus on community college transfers and the role of four-year schools.

Be sure to check out our feature on the ability of cloud transitions to bridge higher ed's IT skills gap and more in this week's most-read Education Dive posts!

• The controversy behind ESSA's Pay for Success initiative: Critics of the provision see a for-profit 'money-making scheme.'
• 5 steps to successful competency-based programs: A self-paced model that discards the credit hour and the semester requires new ways of thinking about teaching and learning and new systems to go with them.
• Transfer could be key to college completion goals: The Aspen Institute, the Columbia University’s Teachers College and Public Agenda have joined forces on a campaign to focus on transfer, emphasizing the role of four-year schools.
• National Education Technology Plan outlines best classroom practices: The US Department of Education's new document provides dozens of recommendations for the smart implementation of tech in the classroom.
• Cloud transitions help bridge IT skills gap: Finding IT staffers with the right skills to maintain aging infrastructure can be hard, but cloud-based solutions outsource those tasks and free in-house staff for strategic work.

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