House Ed & Labor pushes forward on NCLB

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> House Lawmakers Push for No Child Left Behind Legislation by August
>
> By: Stephen Langel
> CongressNow Staff
> Thursday, July 05, 2007   4:33 PM
>
> A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is making a push to mark up No Child
> Left Behind Act legislation before the August recess with hopes of
> reauthorizing President Bush's landmark education reforms before they expire
> at the end of September.
>
> House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, Buck McKeon
> (R-Calif), the ranking member of committee, along with Reps. Dale Kildee
> (D-Mich.) and Michael Castle (R-Del.), the chairman and ranking members of
> Education and Labor's subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and
> Secondary Education, are leading efforts to reauthorize the education
> initiative.
>
> Currently staff from both sides of the aisle are negotiating the final
> details of the bill's legislative language that will likely be released
> within the week as a precursor to a mark up, sources say.
>
> NCLB sets federal performance standards for schools with a goal of having
> all children reading at their grade level by 2014. Some lawmakers have
> expressed concern that the current legislation forces federal mandates on
> local schools with little flexibility; while others have complained the call
> for an education overhaul has not been backed up with increased federal
> spending.
>
> In hopes of addressing those concerns, Miller has sent out a memo to various
> groups of lawmakers, including House freshman members, to get their views on
> several key NCLB issues. "Your feedback on these changes is key to the
> reauthorization process," Miller wrote in an internal memo sent out last
> month that was obtained by CongressNow.
>
> According to the June memo, Miller requested comments on using growth
> models, which track individual students' progress over several years as
> opposed to the current approach that compares grade levels' performance.
> Miller also sought feedback on allowing states to use measures other than
> test scores to evaluate student learning and school performance with an eye
> toward improving "fairness, validity, reliability, and appropriateness of
> tests" for students, particularly special education students and those for
> who English is a second language.
>
> The paper also sought comments on how to develop "appropriate and flexible"
> interventions for schools falling below minimum NCLB standards, how to
> improve teacher training and performance, along with how to ensure increased
> funding for the program.
>
> For his part, McKeon is confident that reauthorization will take place soon.
> An aide to the congressman said staffers are "certainly optimistic that we
> can get something done" by August.
>
> Currently, the lawmakers are wrestling with several issues, including how to
> incorporate new performance measures, ensuring increased use of supplemental
> services and providing greater flexibility for state and local entities' use
> of NCLB funds, the aide added.
>
> Lawmakers are particularly interested in incorporating so-called growth
> models to measure performance. Negotiators are also pushing to ensure that
> students have greater access to supplemental services, such as free
> tutoring. The lawmakers want to include language to ensure earlier parental
> notification of these options, along with clearer language about when that
> service is available.
>
> Finally, negotiations are ongoing about how to give state and local entities
> flexibility in transferring NCLB money between different programs, including
> for technology classroom technology, teacher quality and safe and drug free
> school programs. Currently school districts and states have flexibility in
> how they use 50 percent of those funds, but some lawmakers, including
> McKeon, want that increased to 100 percent, the aide said.
>
> Bob Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair &
> Open Testing (FairTest), told CongressNow using growth models, moving beyond
> standardized test scores to measure success, addressing special need
> students and hiring qualified teachers have bipartisan interest among
> lawmakers, especially freshman members.
>
> However, the House's push to address so many issues in such a short period
> of time has some advocates concerned.
>
> Getting it right is more important than getting it done fast, said Scott
> Palmer, a partner at Holland & Knight, which represents state education
> officials. It will be a "real challenge" for lawmakers to get
> reauthorization by the end of the year with new innovative measures, he
> said.
>
> Schaeffer is also concerned that lawmakers are rushing legislation. He said.
> FairTest "strongly opposes efforts to ramrod a bill through the House,"
> without debate and amendments on the complexities of it.
>
> Schaeffer and Palmer say they are skeptical that the bill will be
> reauthorized before the end of the current fiscal year. With the 2008
> elections looming, they say, Democrats do not want to give Bush a domestic
> policy victory, while lawmakers may be reluctant to back controversial
> legislation a little more than a year before they face voters, Schaeffer
> said.
>
> One possibility is that Congress could pass an extension of NCLB with minor
> changes to performance measures, such as adding growth models, Schaeffer and
> Palmer said.
>
> But the McKeon aide dismissed such speculation insisting a full
> reauthorization would occur.
>
> Meanwhile, the Senate is farther behind in reauthorizing NCLB with the
> Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee just beginning to
> weigh in on the legislation.