Federal Update for Week of April 7-11, 2008

STATE BOARD MEMBERS PRESS LAWMAKERS FOR NCLB REFORMS

State board of education members told members of Congress that reforms to the No Child Left Behind Act need to be enacted this year in meetings on Capitol Hill during NASBE‟s recent legislative conference.

“The next six months will determine whether changes are made to the No Child Left Behind Act this year or whether policymakers, teachers, and students will have to wait an unacceptably longer period of time for the common sense improvements that will make the law work better in our states and schools,” said Karabelle Pizzigati, NASBE President and a member of the Maryland State Board of Education.

“In each of our states, we are now witnessing the tangible results from our efforts to raise student achievement and school quality. Unfortunately, all of this progress sits at risk,” warned Pizzigati. “If Congress fails to renew the federal education law in 2008, all the positive momentum we have generated up to now will be in peril.” State board members met with their congressional delegations to inform lawmakers of the ways in which a revised NCLB law should align with their existing state policies to help promote student achievement and school quality in their individual states.

State board members also pushed for statutory changes to provide more flexibility in state assessment and accountability requirements and a greater federal commitment for the resources necessary to sustain such a world class education system.

“The clear message state board members are sending to Congress about No Child Left Behind is to Fix it, don‟t nix it,” said Brenda Welburn, NASBE Executive Director. Many state initiatives are on hold until state leaders can be sure that the proposed policies can fit with whatever new federal requirements are enacted, she said.

Representatives Dale Kildee (D-MI) and Michael Castle (R-DE), the chairman and ranking member of the House K-12 Education Subcommittee respectively, spoke to attendees at a members-only briefing on Capitol Hill. Other conference sessions included a 2008 campaign update, an appearance by senior U.S. Department of Education officials, and presentations on the possible legislative fate of the No Child Left Behind Act and whether the law is an unfunded mandate. Dr. Rudy Crew, the 2008 National Superintendent of the Year, delivered a stirring keynote address to conclude the event.

SECRETARY SPELLINGS ANNOUNCES ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS TO NCLB

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the first in a series of much-anticipated “administrative reforms” she will make to the No Child Left Behind Act, which includes a differentiated accountability system as a pilot program for up to 10 states. States in the program will be allowed to distinguish between schools that barely miss their adequate yearly progress ( AYP) goals and those that show significantly poor performance among more student subgroups.

According to the Education Department, “differentiated accountability will allow states to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that lead to a school‟s identification... [ and] will assist those states by targeting resources and interventions to those schools most in need of intensive interventions and significant reform. In return, states must commit to: build their capacity for school reform; take the most significant actions for the lowest-performing schools, including addressing the issue of teacher effectiveness; and use data to determine the method of differentiation and categories of intervention.”

To be eligible to apply for this program, states must have a fully approved assessment system and highly qualified teacher plan, and have reported their test and AYP results in a timely fashion over the past two years. State applications must show a clearly defined process for categorizing low-performing schools and its system of interventions. The Secretary hinted at which states would receive favorable treatment by specifically citing several by name in her announcement speech. “We will give preference to states that have been pioneers for reform--as Maryland, North Dakota, Louisiana, and South Dakota have been leaders on accountability, and Massachusetts has been a leader on standards,” Spellings said.

The differentiated accountability policy is the Education Department‟s second proposal in a month that incorporates NASBE recommendations made in last year‟s study group reports. As part of the Bush administration‟s FY09 budget request, federal officials will seek to suspend Title I‟s “hold harmless” provision that would provide states with more federal funds for school improvement activities (see GAO study below).

As a follow-up to the differentiated consequences, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings also announced her intent to establish a uniform national graduation rate calculation for purposes of accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act. The move was not unexpected, as Spellings had previously indicated that she would take administrative action on graduation rates and other issues if Congress did not move toward reauthorizing NCLB this year.

Educators, administrators, and scholars have been battling over the high school graduation rate for years, so a standard formula can put that argument to rest. However, Spellings did not provide any specifics of the formula, which is being vetted by Education Department and Office of Management and Budget analysts and should be released later this month. Spellings also did not say whether the graduation data will be required when determining whether a district or school reaches adequate yearly progress under NCLB.

GAO STUDY FINDS ‘HOLD HARMLESS’ LIMITS STATES’ IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS A new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the “hold harmless” provision in the No Child Left Behind Act is limiting the ability of states to use reserved Title I funds for school improvement activities at low performing schools. According to the GAO report, “while the hold-harmless provision is designed to protect school districts from reductions in their Title I funding, it has also kept 22 states from setting aside the full portion of Title I school improvement funds since 2002 because they did not have enough funds to do so after satisfying the hold-harmless provision.

To address this, Education has proposed repealing the hold-harmless provision. However, it is not known how removing this provision would affect districts protected by it.” The GAO recommends that the Education Department analyze the impact on districts of removing the hold harmless provision and for federal officials to review its compliance monitoring to ensure that states are appropriately allocating and prioritizing such funding to the lowest-performing districts and/or schools.