NSBA welcomes more flexibility in No Child Left Behind
NSBA welcomes the U.S. Education Department’s new pilot program to provide more flexibility under No Child Left Behind, but is still pushing for Congress to amend NCLB as soon as possible.
Reggie Felton, NSBA’s director of federal relations, discussed the “Differentiated Accountability” pilot at the National Advocacy Networks meeting March 29.
It would modify the provisions related to sanctions for schools that fail to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) by recognizing that the current “one-size-fits-all” approach fails to take into account the unique needs of individual students and schools, Felton said.
Currently, schools that barely miss their targets are subject to the same sanctions as schools that perform well below their AYP targets.
The pilot program would allow states to design systems that impose different sanctions based on different performance criteria, with the expectation that more resources and interventions would be targeted to the lowest-performing schools.
Participating states would be required to define their process for “labeling” schools, define their system of interventions, and define their interventions for the lowest-performing schools. Up to 10 states could participate in the pilot program. States must apply by May 2, and the pilot would begin at the start of the 2008-09 school year.
This option should be open to all states, not just 10, Felton said.
The reauthorization of NCLB before the 110th Congress adjourns is one of NSBA’s top priorities, he said. The unintended consequences of this overly complex law “are imposing far more dysfunctional and illogical implementation problems than had been anticipated by the law’s original sponsors.”
NSBA believes NCLB’s main focus should be helping schools improve student achievement, not penalizing schools.
NSBA lobbyists also spoke about some of the other major issues on NSBA’s advocacy agenda:
• Both the House and Senate have approved budget resolutions that would increase funding for education and training by $5 billion to $7 billion. NSBA urges Congress to increase funding for Title I and special education by $2.5 billion each and reject the President’s proposal to eliminate career and technical education and education technology grants.
• NSBA is seeking a permanent solution to the loss of funding to school districts caused by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s rule to prevent districts from seeking reimbursements for transportation and administrative services for Medicaid-eligible children in special education.
• NSBA supports an increased federal investment in high-quality, voluntary prekindergarten and has created a committee of school board advocates to work on this issue.
• The federally supported school voucher program in Washington, D.C., is up for renewal this year, and NSBA urges Congress to not reauthorize this program and fully invest in public schools instead.
• NSBA opposes attempts to “voucherize” federal funding for after-school programs.
• NSBA is urging Congress to improve the provision on preparing “highly qualified teachers” in the Higher Education Act.
NSBA staff members also urged local school board leaders to take advantage of the presidential election campaigns to speak about the association’s advocacy priorities.
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