Reauthorization of NCLB

Home -- Reauthorization of NCLB

As the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in its latest reiteration -- NCLB -- begins the reauthorization process -- these links will share with you, some of the latest calls for changes in the legislation:

NEW!
1/14/2008

Everything You Wanted to Know About NCLB:
The One-Stop Resource for Community and Parent Leaders

This site, geared for parents is a great summary of the law and where NCLB is at, at this point in time with the reauthorization.

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NEW!
12/27/2007

This is a letter regarding changes that Jonathan Kozol handed to Ted Kennedy about 1 week ago. This letter outlines his suggestions -- and he (Kozol) speaks on behalf of many organizations that are disillusioned with the current legislation.

The following link is for a summary of the bipartisan "discussion draft" for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, reauthorized in 2002 as No Child Left Behind. The draft, circulated to education organizations, was released by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller and covers Title I, Part A of ESEA.

http://edlabor.house.gov/bills/MillerMcKeonNCLBDiscussionDraftSummary.pdf

NEW!
11/30/2007

SPICING UP NCLB WITH EARLY EDUCATION INITIATIVES
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to test children annually beginning in the third grade and then, based on the results, build systems of accountability and intervene in low-performing schools. While this may or may not be all well and good, research has shown that academic success or failure begins before students even enter the third grade. In addition, as much as half of the black-white achievement gap already exists before children become first graders. It follows that to narrow the pervasive achievement gaps, NCLB must support state and local efforts to improve education in the preschool and early elementary years. To ensure that NCLB is capable of increasing the rigor of early childhood education programs, Sara Mead, a senior research fellow at the Education Policy Program of the New America Foundation, has outlined several ideas to consider for re-authorization. These ideas include providing high-quality pre-kindergarten to children who live near low-performing schools, require pre-kindergarten programs operated in public schools or with Title I funds to employ "highly qualified early educators," creating a "Pathways to Pre-kindergarten Teaching" alternative certification program and many others. By incorporating these policies, Congress has the opportunity to make NCLB a catalyst for state, district and school level initiatives that build high-quality systems of pre-kindergarten through third grade. This should give children the best chance to succeed when NCLB accountability kicks in.
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/10_new_ideas_early_education_nclb_reauthorization

The Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind:
Views from the Nation’s Best Teachers

Over the last several weeks, countless researchers, policy observers, and other educational stakeholders have joined with policymakers to comment on the impending reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. However, there has been a missing voice.

Policymakers have not had the opportunity to hear from those who are most intimately impacted by NCLB, the teachers who strive every day in classrooms across America to allow every student to achieve. The Center for Teaching Quality and members of the Teacher Leaders Network seek to remedy this critical oversight with The Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind: Views from the Nation's Best Teachers. This report presents the insights of highly accomplished educators, both in text and in their own voices through embedded podcasts, to describe how this landmark education legislation has benefitted their students -- and fallen short of its promise.

Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation's Children (download full report)
The recommendations in "Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation's Children," were released by the Commission on No Child Left Behind, a group led by former Governor Roy E. Barnes of Georgia and Tommy Thompson, the former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The report is meant to be a blueprint for Congress as it prepares to consider renewal of the law later this year.

7/6/2007

The Business Coalition for Student Achievement – representing business leaders from every sector of the economy – believes that improving the performance of the K-12 education system in the United States is necessary to provide a strong foundation for both U.S. competitiveness and for individuals to succeed in our rapidly changing world.

6/19/2007

"To Know NCLB Is to Like It, ETS Poll Finds"
The more Americans learn about No Child Left Behind, they more they like it, according to an Education Testing Service poll. Although the ETS poll's findings look to be different from others on the surface, those differences may be explained by the information respondents received in the questions asked in the different surveys. Before those polled were told details about the law, 41% said they supported it, and 43% said they did not. But once the interviewer mentioned the law's focus on standards and accountability, requiring highly qualified teachers and other details, 56% said that they viewed the law favorably and 37% still opposed it.

6/19/2007

"Civil Rights Groups Press for NCLB to Focus on High Schools"
Nine major civil rights organizations called on Congress to make reforming America's high schools and improving graduation rates for minority students the most urgent priority as it moves forward on renewing No Child Left Behind. The coalition's "Campaign for High School Equity" outlined dozens of specific policy priorities, including providing rigor in core subjects and requiring states to report publicly on students' access to college-preparatory courses and course-taking patterns. The coalition also called for holding high schools accountable for student performance and for increasing federal funding for these efforts.

Download Full Report

Issue No. 3: Is Support for Standards and Testing Fading?

Download this PDF Report from The Public Agenda

BOSTON GLOBE
"Bush: Reauthorize No Child Left Behind"
President Bush, who wants his legacy engraved with his education policy, lobbied Congress on Friday to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind law -- and do it this year. "We can change parts of it for the better, but don't change the core of a piece of legislation that is making a significant difference in the lives of a lot of children," Bush said. He also cautioned against weakening the law by making compliance too flexible. It was the second day in a row that Bush called for renewing the law he signed in 2002. Democrats have complained that Bush has not provided enough money for education. In his budget proposal released last month, funding for the law would increase by a little more than $1 billion with an emphasis on boosting aid for low-income high school students. The proposal calls for new reading and math tests to be added in high school.

The National Education Association's official statement and position on the reauthorization -- ESEA: It's Time for a Change!
Download Full Report

The national PTA's page on reauthorization

PTA recommendations for Parent Involvement for Upcoming Reauthorization

NCLB LETTERS TO CONGRESS PROJECT
Right now the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is working on language for the re-authorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. This is a good time to express your thoughts and concerns to your elected leaders. One way to do this is through the "No Child Left Behind Letters to Congress Project" on-line at FaithfulAmerica.org. There you will find 10 letters – 10 distinct opportunities for you to weigh in on the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. The letters will be sent electronically according to your zip code to your two senators and your Congressional representative. In each letter there is a place, right in the middle, for you to insert your own story. Please use these opportunities to share how NCLB is affecting your child, or a teacher you know, or your own school, or your community. Each of these letters lifts up one of "Ten Moral Concerns in the Implementation of No Child Left Behind," a statement released by the National Council of Churches last year. Please take this opportunity to tell your own truth to your elected officials.

The official site for Bush's NCLB recommendation:
Building on Results-Reauthorization of NCLB (pdf)
2007 State of the Union discussing Reauthorization of NCLB

Open to the Public:
The Public Speaks Out on No Child Left Behind
A Summary of Nine hearings
September 2005-January 2006

This is a report from PEN that is a summary of public hearings on the NCLB act that happened last year (as they were preparing for the reauthorization).

PEN STATEMENT ON NCLB COMMISSION FINDINGS
Public Education Network (PEN) is pleased that the bi-partisan Commission on No Child Left Behind has recommended much-needed improvements to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, many of which are consistent with research PEN has conducted concerning public views of NCLB.
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The Council of Chief State School Officers has created a report called:
Recommendations to Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Recommendations for the Reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

The Kansas State Board of Education believes that all students must be prepared for the future with the appropriate 21st century skills. To accomplish this and to meet the intent of ESEA, the Kansas State Board of Education offers the following recommendations for the improvement of ESEA.
Download recommendations...

A roundup of recent NCLB-related stories from Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html

"Govs Call for More Control Over NCLB"
Renewal of the oft-criticized No Child Left Behind law is supported by the nation's governors, but they want far more authority to carry out its mandates. That's the crux of recommendations the National Governors Association (NGA) sent to Congress Thursday as that body considers what the second iteration of the five-year-old law should look like. The governors aren't alone. Their recommendations were jointly released with two other state groups: the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Association of State Boards of Education.
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Anne Henderson's testimony at the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions NCLB Reauthorization: Effective Strategies for Engaging Parents and Communities in Schools held 3/28/07.

WHY NCLB NEEDS TO BE RESTRUCTURED TO ACCOMPLISH ITS GOALS
AND HOW TO DO IT
The foundations upon which the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law's accountability system is built are flawed, writes Gary Ratner in a new article in the University of the District of Columbia Law Review. Deep structural changes are needed to make the legislation effective. "Merely tweaking the accountability scheme and increasing funding would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," said Ratner. Without changes from Congress, if school improvements continue at the current rates, it will take 280 more years for the act to meet its goals of bringing every student in the nation to proficiency in reading (as measured by the
National Assessment of Educational Progress.) Ratner identifies four faulty assumptions that form the foundation of NCLB's Adequate Yearly Progress/sanctions-based accountability system, and that doom it to failure: (1) Punitive sanctions motivate real educational improvements; (2) Problems are local and individual schools have the capacity to addr! ess them in isolation; (3) Escalating, strategic-planning based, piecemeal sanctions produce necessary change; and (4) States have the capacity to turn around failing schools without significant new investments in human and financial resources. Instead of having the federal government continue to sanction schools for failing to raise test scores, it needs to lead states and localities to make the changes that experienced educators know, and research generally confirms, enhance student learning: systemic improvements in teacher and administrator preparation, training, curriculum level and family support. Then, the Government needs to hold
localities and states accountable for implementing those changes, while continuing to require regular publication of test results for each student subgroup, so that the public can monitor achievement in each school.
http://www.citizenseffectiveschools.org/udclawreview.pdf