A growing number of schools across the country are working hard to provide a "deeper" learning experience for their students, and state legislators are being asked to create policies that support wide-scale implementation of 21st century learning practices. This primer is created for state policymakers seeking to modify instruction and assessment policies to better engage today's students. The primer defines "deeper learning," explains how it overlaps with other active learning strategies and describes how it can be, and is being, accomplished at the state policy level. Resources that examine deeper learning in further detail are also available.