Education Assessment Technical Corrections Act

Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill that will improve No Child Left Behind (NCLB) implementation while maintaining its important accountability provisions.

NCLB provides a crucial level of accountability for the results of study in the classroom. While this change was welcome on both sides of the aisle, this law did present some technical problems in its ground- breaking measurement and assessment of education achievement. I have worked closely with education specialists at the North Central Education Lab as well as local education professionals as part of my Education Advisory Board to gather data on NCLB implementation. This work resulted in a White paper detailing areas of concern to my local schools, coupled with practical solutions to these problems.

Specifically, this Education Assessment Technical Corrections Act focuses on highly-qualified teacher requirements, determinations of Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), and NCLB sanctions. My legislation maintains NCLB's important accountability provisions while improving implementation of the law in these key areas.

Every child deserves an excellent teacher. Unfortunately, several schools are experiencing difficulty meeting the highly-qualified teacher requirements in certain hard-to-staff areas. Much like rural teachers were given relief through rules, teachers in ``hard to staff'' areas should be granted relief for the highly qualified teacher provision in the form of a two year extension. However, schools must demonstrate that they are working towards full compliance in order to qualify for the extension.

Secondly, I strongly support measuring AYP for students. However, current law does not measure individual student improvement, counts students under multiple sub-groups, and creates discrepancies between NCLB and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. My legislation ensures that students are compared for consecutive years rather than two different classes for the same school year, places equal weight on each student, and clarifies Individualized Education Program status under NCLB. All these changes still maintain accountability measures under NCLB but provide more accurate assessments.

Now that this landmark legislation has been in effect for a few years, it is important we revisit its effects. My bill takes into consideration important practical concerns of my local school boards while staying true to the goals of NCLB. I am proud that this bill reflects the advice and counsel of the North Central Education Lab, my Education Advisory Board and the National Education Association. I want to pay special thanks to Dr. Paul Kimmelman, the chairman of our 10th Congressional district Education Advisory Board, who led much of this work.

Mr. Speaker, the Education Assessment Technical Corrections Act represents a strong bipartisan consensus, backed by school management and unions, to make the job of defining success and education achievement more accurate and useful.