The long-awaited legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind Act has been introduced in Congress.
Introduced by Sens. Burr, R-N.C. and Gregg, R-N.H. on July 12, the bill, S 1775, is known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007.
While there have been previous bills addressing individual components of NCLB reauthorization, this is the first omnibus bill to be introduced in Congress. However, it is not the last; similar bills are expected to come out of the House of Representatives as well.
The bill preserves existing accountability systems within NCLB, including the goal that all children reach grade-level proficiency in reading and math by 2013-14. It keeps in place annual testing in grades 3-8 and at the high school level, and maintains an accountability system rooted in state standards and state assessments. The bill’s accountability measures remain focused on grade-level achievement in math and reading without the addition of multiple measures.
Additionally, the bill would streamline the accountability timeline with the aim of helping schools develop and implement plans to improve student achievement and to focus on teaching and learning. It would also expand options available to parents and place a greater emphasis on teacher quality.
Responding to calls by ACSA and other members of the education community for a growth model to measure individual student progress toward grade-level proficiency, the bill expands the Department of Education’s seven state growth model demonstrations to all 50 states. Eligible states must adhere to the 2014 proficiency deadline, have robust data systems, maintain well-established assessments, and set annual goals based on grade-level proficiency standards, not on students’ backgrounds.
According to its authors, the bill is designed to reflect many of the recommendations made by members of the education community, including administrators, teachers and parents, as well as groups such as the U.S. DOE and Commission on No Child Left Behind. It builds on the cornerstone of NCLB: Holding schools accountable for the academic performance of all children and empowering parents to make better choices for their child’s education.
Because schools and their needs vary tremendously, the bill allows for differentiated consequences to ensure that schools where a majority of students are not performing at grade-level are treated differently from schools where a small segment of the school population is not meeting state standards – these differentiated consequences will allow districts and schools to target resources and interventions to students and schools most in need of assistance.
English learners/special education
Recognizing that schools need additional assistance to help limited English proficient and special education students in meeting state standards, the bill provides greater flexibility, focus, and resources to help schools with special populations.
The bill also grants new flexibility for LEP students who are new to the country; the scores in reading and math for new LEP students would not be included in a school’s accountability measure for the first two years students are in the country. It provides further flexibility for refugee children, who frequently have had no formal schooling, thus allowing these children additional time to meet state standards.
It also allows LEP students who have become proficient in English to be counted in the LEP subgroup for two additional years – ensuring that schools are given credit when they have successfully helped a child become proficient in English.
Regarding special education students, the bill codifies recent flexibility that permits the use of alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and modified academic achievement standards for students who have disabilities that preclude them from achieving grade-level proficiency.
It also targets assessment dollars to develop and administer appropriate assessments for special education and LEP students, and targets professional development dollars to empower teachers with better tools and information on teaching LEP and special education children.
Parental options
The NCLB Act of 2007 accelerates access to supplemental tutorial services so parents can choose between sending their child to another public school or accessing tutorial services in the same year. It also expands the time period parents can enroll their children for tutorial services.
In addition it authorizes a new “money follows the child” program, which provides financial assistance to districts that permit Title 1 dollars to follow the child to the public school of his or her choice.
Teacher quality
The bill maintains the current definition of Highly Qualified Teachers while emphasizing alternative certification, incentive, differential, and performance and merit pay. It requires states and school districts to implement a plan to ensure low-income and minority children are as likely to be taught by highly qualified teachers as their peers in more affluent schools.
In addition, the bill authorizes the Teacher Incentive Fund, a program to encourage states and school districts to expand performance-based compensation for teachers and principals in high-need schools who raise student achievement and close the achievement gap. It also authorizes the Adjunct Teacher Corps, a program to encourage highly educated and trained professionals, particularly in the areas of math and science, to teach high school courses in their area of expertise.
The bill also allows school districts and principals to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements. Under this provision, districts and principals would be empowered with greater authority to remove ineffective teachers from classrooms, and with greater ability to reward quality teachers who agree to teach in high-poverty schools through differential, incentive, or merit or performance-based pay.
Improved high schools
One of the major features of the reauthorization bill is its focus on high schools. It requires states to establish a rigorous high school graduation rate by 2011, which is linked to the expectation that ninth grade students should graduate in four years and that the graduation rate should be disaggregated. This graduation rate builds on the work of all 50 states through the National Governors Association, which has signed the Graduation Counts Compact, an effort started in 2005 to find a common method for calculating each state’s graduation rate.
The bill also authorizes a new high school program designed to increase graduation rates and encourage all students to take a rigorous high school curriculum that will ensure they are prepared to succeed in both postsecondary education and the workforce.
Funds from the act will be used to create models of excellence for academically rigorous high schools; implement accelerated academic catch-up programs for students who enter high school behind in skills; put in place an early warning system to quickly identify students at risk of dropping out of high school; and establish programs that offer students opportunities in job-shadowing, internships, and community service so that they are better able to make connections between what they are learning in school and how it applies in the workplace.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said the bill will continue NCLB’s progress in helping more students get the education they deserve.
“This new act retains the solid foundation we’ve laid and incorporates lessons we’ve learned in the last five years,” she said. “Now that we’ve identified struggling students and schools, we can provide them with the extra tools and resources they need to get back on track. We can give educators more credit for student improvement and give principals and superintendents more resources to reinvent chronically underperforming schools. Thanks to annual assessments and the abundance of data we now have on student performance, we can give states and schools more flexibility without sacrificing accountability for results.
“Students and families are counting on us to prepare our next generation to seize the opportunities of today’s global economy, and they don’t have time to wait. By reauthorizing the law this year, we can provide them with the tools and flexibility they need now. In my travels around the country, I’ve seen many schools that are proving that our 2014 goal is reachable. I look forward to working with Congress to use the wisdom we’ve gained to ensure every student has the knowledge and skills to succeed. The NCLB Act of 2007 strikes a strong balance between preserving the fundamental accountability that is helping students improve, and responding to legitimate concerns raised by parents and educators.”
ACSA staff is in the process of reviewing the language of the NCLB Act of 2007 and will provide members with a detailed analysis as soon as possible, said ACSA Legislative Advocate Sherry Skelly Griffith.
“With the support of Secretary Spellings it is likely this measure is the (Bush) administration’s vehicle for NCLB reauthorization,” Griffith said. “As ACSA carefully analyzes the bill, we also look forward to seeing what will be introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy and Congressman George Miller as they are the key leaders in Congress. Once we have all bills we can proceed with a thoughtful response.”