Proposed revisions to NCLB would ease penalties but tighten another rule
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has issued proposed revisions yesterday to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that would ease the penalties for public schools that barely miss academic testing targets but would tighten another rule that has allowed states to meet achievement goals. Rep. Miller and three other committee members were floating the ideas as they move toward introducing a bill likely to contain major changes to the controversial law. The proposal would allow states to use more than annual tests in reading and math to rate schools; give credit to states for students who are projected to reach proficiency within three years; and require states to test certain students with limited English skills in their native language. For some schools that fall only slightly short of academic targets, the proposal would also lift requirements to provide after-school tutoring and let students transfer to better schools. In addition, Rep. Miller proposed strengthening a rule that requires test scores to be reported separately for groups of students identified by ethnicity, race, family income and other factors. The proposal would require scores to be reported, and achievement raised, for all demographic groups with at least 30 students in a school.
The proposal also endorsed allowing states to rate schools based on the progress of individual students, rather than comparing, for example, this year's third-graders with last year's. That would build on a trial "growth-model" accountability program the Bush administration recently launched. The draft also puts new emphasis on high school dropouts, proposing resources to help schools with the lowest graduation rates have "data-driven decision making, improved curriculum and instruction, personalization of the school environment, staff collaboration and professional development and individualized student supports," according to a summary of the plan. In another shift, Rep. Miller would relax accountability rules, allowing the use of more than test scores to rate schools. Other measures of progress, the summary says, could include "graduation rates, dropout rates, college-going rates, percentages of students successfully completing end-of-course exams for college preparatory courses" and improvement in the performance of the worst and best students in a school. While many critics of NCLB promote multiple measures of school performance, some backers of the law have expressed doubts about changes that would reduce the urgency of raising standardized test scores for all students, including the disadvantaged.
Washington Post By Jay Mathews
[Editor’s Note: The summary and the full text of the proposed amendments are below. The three other committee members are the ranking Republican on the committee and the chair and ranking Republican member of the subcommittee responsible for K-12 issues. Their letter soliciting feedback on the discussion draft by September 5 also is below. NSBA Director of Federal Relations Reginald Felton indicates the draft appears to move in the overall direction NSBA has advocated. See the July letter from NSBA to Chairman Miller, below at the fourth link, submitted in response to a memo he had circulated to members identifying nine areas that the reauthorization would address. Rep. Miller also had signaled in a speech that significant changes to NCLB would be necessary to accomplish its Congressional reauthorization. Information on that and other recent developments is available starting from the last link.]
Committee summary of revisions
Full text of revisions
Letter to education stakeholders
NSBA letter to Miller on nine areas
NSBA School Law pages on Miller speech