Congress is working to make sweeping changes to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation passed under the George W. Bush administration.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill that keeps current federal testing requirements, but gives states more freedom to determine how to hold schools and teachers accountable for students’ test scores. States must test students’ proficiency in reading and math and will issue consequences to school systems that do not reach state goals.
U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan applauded senators for making progress in the “flawed act” but believes the bill needs more work before it reaches President Barack Obama’s desk.
“I’m particularly pleased the bill would expand access to high-quality preschool and direct taxpayer dollars toward proven innovative strategies,” said Duncan. “However, this bill still falls short of truly giving every child a fair shot at success by failing to ensure parents and children can count on local leaders to take action when students are struggling to learn.”
He suggests identifying school models that work and those that do not, to guarantee each American child a quality education.
“We cannot tolerate continued indifference to the lowest performing schools, achievement gaps that let some students fall behind, or high schools where huge numbers of students never make it to graduation,” Duncan said.
He added that the bill would focus on what matters most – whether students are actually learning and graduating, and whether those that need the greatest help receive the resources and support they need.
Duncan’s thoughts echo those of several civil rights groups that oppose the bill because they say its accountability measures don’t go far enough. The bill would also need to be reconciled with the NCLB overhaul the House passed, which Obama has suggested he would veto.
The House of Representatives’ version of NCLB changes is called the Student Success Act. This legislation would also significantly scale back the federal government’s role in public education and give more power back to states. It also changes how federal funds are dispensed to educate low-income students and includes an amendment that allows parents to opt their children out of standardized tests without putting school districts at risk of federal sanctions.
Education reform stems back to the 1960s. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who believed, “full educational opportunity” should be “our first national goal.”
ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, federal grants for books, it created special education centers, and created scholarships for low-income college students. Additionally, the law provided federal grants to state educational agencies to improve elementary and secondary education.
In 2002, with bipartisan support, Congress reauthorized ESEA and former President Bush signed the law, giving it a new name: No Child Left Behind.
The law made federal funding of education conditional for the first time, tying it to student achievements on regular standardized tests.
While NCLB put in place measures that exposed achievement gaps among traditionally underserved and vulnerable students, and started an important national dialogue on educational improvement, it set the goal of total proficiency in reading and math by 2014 – a goal that has yet to be reached.
The bill, which is said to be “unworkable and overly punitive,” expired in 2007 but has remained in effect. Congress has been unable to agree on how to revise it.
The United States Department of Education recently granted Indiana a three-year extension of its waiver from some of the provisions of federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind.
“Because of this waiver, local schools throughout our state will continue to have more control over how they use precious federal resources. I am particularly excited to see that our Division of Outreach for School Improvement is getting federal recognition for their incredible work. Our Outreach Coordinators work proactively with schools throughout the state on ways to use data to drive school improvement in our lowest performing schools,” said Glenda Ritz, Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“In one year, they helped move 103 schools from failing status, representing over 61,000 students that are no longer attending a D or F school. As Superintendent, I will continue to work with both local schools and the federal government to find increased ways to direct more resources into classrooms while reducing the amount of time spent on testing.”
During the creation of the NCLB legislation, Gov. Mike Pence represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was one of 25 Republican votes against Bush’s signature education law.
Today, Pence’s main education initiatives includes improving career and technical education programs. He’s also been a strong advocate for state support for preschool, school choice, locally created academic standards and school accountability.
“My philosophy of executive leadership is pretty simple: It’s to set big goals and offer solutions on how to achieve them, but also to stay open to other ideas that emerge in the legislative process or in conversations with Hoosiers. But everything starts with a goal that is big enough—and specific enough—to focus our efforts on what really matters. Performance measured is performance improved,” said Pence.
The next steps for NCLB are unclear, since even its supporters don’t believe Obama will sign it in its current form.
