This summer as the House and Senate passed their own versions of the final bill now in front of Congress, she expressed optimism about its potential.
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The 1,000-plus page measure, which the House passed on Wednesday, now heads to the Senate for a vote early next week.
It was not without many critics who railed against its heavy federal involvement in local school districts, the goals which many came to believe were unrealistic and the penalties that were deemed harsh for “underperforming” schools.
No Child’s major legacy may be as a dividing line that ushered in an era of laser-like focus on achievement and a determination to raise the academic levels of all students in an age of globalized economic competition.
“Not every student learns the same way”, Farrell said. “What was needed was more targeted interventions for failing schools, not all schools”. “Our education standards must reflect that”.
“It was important to me that this legislation address significant concerns that I share with my constituents with Common Core”, Ms. Stefanik said. States were persuaded to adopt the Common Core standards as well as a tough teacher evaluation program that were based in part on student performance on state tests.
“No Child Left Behind was an utter failure”, said Larry Dickens, the president of the Williamson County chapter of the Tennessee Education Association. “No Child Left Behind was well intentioned but some of its points were unrealistic”. This bipartisan plan – the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) – is good news for our nation’s schools.
“That was just unrealistic”, Mr. Burns said.
“The federal government’s intrusion is going up, not down”, he said.
Massena saw above-average opt-out rates for the St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES region past year, with 40 percent of students not taking the math exams and 26 percent not taking the English Language Arts exams. “It’s finally happening. We’ve been waiting so long”.
With the Every Student Succeeds Act, students will still be required to standardized yearly tests in math and reading and schools with still have to report the results, but if there are problems with a school it will be up the the states and not the federal government to decide what changes should be made.
“There has to be an accountability measure associated with our productiveness, but we’re not producing widgets”, Dykes said.
Huelskamp added the bill would still allow “the heavy hands of Washington politicians and bureaucrats” to “still dictate what my kids and other Kansas children study, how and when they are tested, who passes or fails, and even what they can be served in the lunchroom”.
A compromise bill was a long time coming.
The bill originally passed by the House included an amendment authored by Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) to allow parents to exempt their children from testing requirements.
Fran Rabinowitz, interim superintendent of Bridgeport schools, saw similar ups and downs in No Child Left Behind.
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When the federal pressure comes off, what happens if children don’t learn? “I think the local individuals will have to be creative and being innovative”, she said. The section on career guidance and counseling ticks off a range of programs and activities, such as guidance focusing on college and financial aid, but also on “career awareness and exploration activities”, and on “training counselors to effectively use labor market information in assisting students with postsecondary education and career planning”.
