States issue recommendations for NCLB reauthorization

Five years have passed since President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. The law, which calls for 100 percent of students to be proficient in reading and math by 2013-14, is up for reauthorization at the federal level. On Jan. 29, the Council of Chief State School Officers issued recommendations related to the reauthorization. Eight specific policy recommendations address broad issues that states have identified as priority areas for improvement.

“We’ve learned a lot over the past five years. As a nation, we’ve made great strides in improving student achievement, but we know that the law poses certain challenges,” said South Dakota’s Secretary of Education Rick Melmer, who serves as CCSSO’s president-elect. “This is our opportunity to make changes that will further enhance the progress that has been made.”

The eight recommendations are as follows:

Promote Innovative Models and Reinvent Peer Review

Under the current system, states have had little flexibility to develop innovative ways to improve student achievement. CCSSO recommends language changes that promote innovation based on sound educational strategies. The organization also calls for changes to the peer review process that would make it more effective and useful for states.

Improve Accountability Determinations

CCSSO recommends that states be allowed to use growth models, to complement existing status measures, to determine adequate yearly progress. Further, states should be allowed to use relevant data regarding school performance in making AYP determinations.

Differentiate Consequences

Under the current law, districts and schools that do not make AYP face the same consequences, whether they miss performance targets by a large or small amount. Nor does the current system take into account interim progress. CCSSO calls for changes in the law to address these issues.

Improve Assessment Systems

CCSSO recommends amending the law to allow states to promote (but not require) the use of multiple state and local assessments that can improve teaching and result in more reliable determinations.

Properly Include Students with Disabilities

Another frequent criticism of NCLB has been the challenge that districts face in fairly assessing students with disabilities. CCSSO will ask Congress to remove the rigid caps on the testing of special education students and allow states to use alternate/modified achievement standards based on individual growth expectations across grade levels.

Properly Include English Language Learners

When it comes to English language learners, CCSSO is pushing for the use of multiple measures, including alternate assessments, for no less than three years for new immigrant ELL students. Assessments should be administered when the student is ready with a tool that is useful for improving instruction for that student.

Enhance Teacher Quality

CCSSO recommends “counting newly hired teachers as highly qualified when they meet standards in their primary subject areas and are on a pathway (of no more than three years) with regard to additional subjects.” Further, CCSSO says that teachers of students with disabilities and ELL students should be considered highly qualified when they work closely with a classroom teacher who is highly qualified. 

Strengthen Resources

Finally, CCSSO calls for additional funding to address needed actions such as providing technical assistance to underperforming schools and districts and developing state assessment and data systems.