March 20, 2007: Statement for the Record to the House Committee on Education and Labor

March 20, 2007

The Honorable George Miller, Chair
House Committee on Education and Labor
United States House of Representatives
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Re:  Hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee on Adequate Yearly Progress, March 21, 2007; National School Boards Association Statement
for the Record

Dear Chairman Miller:

The National School Boards Association (NSBA), representing over 95,000 local school board members across the nation, commends you for your strong support to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act during the 110th Congress, and for establishing an aggressive schedule for congressional hearings over the coming weeks. NSBA looks forward to participating in future hearings and very much appreciates the opportunity to submit written testimony for the record.

Local school boards across the nation continue to support the goals of NCLB – including increased accountability for student performance. However, of utmost concern to local school boards is the belief that the current accountability framework does not accurately or fairly assess student, school, or school district performance.

Although the sponsors of the No Child Left Behind Act intended to establish a responsive accountability system for the nation’s public schools, what has evolved in the name of accountability is a measurement framework that bases its assessment of school quality on a student’s performance on a single assessment; and mandates a series of overbroad sanctions not always targeted to the students needing the services.

Five years after enactment of the federal law, local school districts continue to struggle to comply with the language of the law at a time when the unintended consequences of this complex law are imposing far more dysfunctional and illogical implementation problems than had been anticipated by the sponsors of the legislation. NSBA believes that the NCLB law can be amended to improve the accountability system in a way that restores public confidence in the law and results in significant improvement in the academic achievement of all students.

In January 2005, NSBA officially unveiled its bill, the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2005. The bill contains over 40 provisions that would improve the implementation of the current federal law. In June, 2006, Representative Don Young (R-AK) introduced H.R. 5709, the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2006, which incorporated all of the NSBA recommendations. Co-sponsors of H.R. 5709 included Representatives Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ-9), Rob Bishop (R-UT-1), Todd Platts (R-PA-19), and Jo Bonner (R-AL-1). In January 2007, Rep. Young re-introduced his bill as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007, H.R. 648. The bill’s co-sponsors to date include Representatives Charlie Melancon (D-LA-3), Steven Rothman (D-NJ-9), Jo Bonner (R-AL-1), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI-11), and Todd Platts (R-PA-19), verifying strong bi-partisan support for these important improvements to the current law. This comprehensive bill addresses the key concerns of local school boards, including those provisions related to the accountability and the adequate yearly progress (AYP) framework. This bill would:

  • Increase the flexibility for states to measure adequate yearly progress (AYP), including growth models.
  • Grant more flexibility in establishing goals and determining AYP targets.
  • Create a student testing participation range, providing flexibility for uncontrollable variations in student attendance.
  • Allow schools to target resources to those student populations who need the most attention by applying sanctions only when the same student group fails to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in the same subject for two consecutive years.
  • Ensure that students are counted properly in AYP reporting systems.
NSBA encourages you to review the No Child Left Behind Improvements Act of 2007, H.R. 648 in its entirety. However, for your convenience we have enclosed a copy of our Quick Reference Guide to the bill that provides the recommended provisions and a brief rationale.

NSBA very much appreciates the opportunity to submit a written statement for the Record, and we look forward to working closely with you and your staffs to complete the reauthorization process during this First Session of the 110th Congress. We will also provide you with recommended legislative language which should be helpful to your staff in drafting the new bill.

Questions concerning our specific recommendations may be directed to Reginald M. Felton, director of federal relations at 703-838-6782, or by e-mail, rfleton@nsba.org.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Resnick
Associate Executive Director

cc:    Members, House Committee on Education and Labor
 
 
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