What's Going on in American Education?

by Chelsea L.

A Republican Proposal within the House of Representatives has called for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a bill that supports standards-based education reform in the United States.

What does it mean to “Reauthorize” a bill?

• A number of laws have “sunset provisions,” meaning that they will expire after a period of time. Reauthorizing a bill will extend the term of the bill for a longer period of time.
• In the context of education reform, reauthorization is the process by which Congress can add changes, additions, and deletions to NCLB. This enables legislation to be adjusted to current programs and needs within education.

What is NCLB?

•           NCLB is an act that was proposed by President George W. Bush in 2001, and was signed into law in 2002.
•       NCLB has the following statues:

o   In order to receive federal funding, all public schools must administer an annual, state-wide standardized test to all students

§  These were the STAR exams you may have taken in elementary and middle school!

o   To receive funding through Title I (a federal program that aims to improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students by funding local school districts), schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). As an example, to meet AYP, 5^th graders this year must perform better on the exam than did the previous year’s 5^th graders. 

o   Rather than having a uniform, national achievement standard, each state has the ability to develop its own assessments and tests 

    

          What is the new plan, and what are some concerns?

• The new Republican proposal, The Student Success Act, is a plan that will cut back on federal regulation of education:
• This will give state and local governments more authority over assessing teacher and student performance. Additionally, they will be able to allocate Title I money according to the state's unique needs

• If instituted, this bill will change certain provisions of NCLB:
•  It will eliminate requirements of “adequate yearly progress” that schools must meet in order to receive federal funding
• Though the new act will not change testing requirements (which has been a highly controversial aspect of NCLB), it will give states flexibility to decide which standardized testing to use
• President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are concerned that this plan would hurt school districts with large percentages of low-income students:
• Low-income students currently receive extra money under NCLB
• The new law allows for portability, which is when students can take their funding to the public school of their choice
• School districts with high concentrations of low-income students will lose more than $3 billion in federal funding over the next 6 years
• In fact, according to Mr. Duncan: “If you look at the numbers, it’s a pretty devastating portrait of what could happen. Detroit could lose $256 million, L.A. three-quarters of a billion. If you go district by district, you get some idea of the severity.”

• Though NCLB passed with bipartisan support in 2001, there are several provisions of the law that have incited backlash. Congress has attempted (but failed) to reauthorize NCLB since 2007, and this represents renewed congressional efforts to improve our existing education system.

It will be interesting to see what they finally decide in Congress. Stay tuned- we'll keep you updated on what the government decides is best for the future of our education system!