A bill that would replace No Child Left Behind and shift education policy to state and local control passed its first hurdle Wednesday night, in the U.S. House of Representives. In its waivers, the administration added conditions that states tie performance ratings of teachers to student test scores and that states adopt rigorous academic standards. States would be required to improve the lowest-achieving five percent of schools, as well as schools where any group of students consistently underperform. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week.
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“Reauthorization has been a long time coming”, said Massena Central School District Superintendent Patrick H. Brady. An earlier version of the House bill that very narrowly passed the chamber in July included portability, something that was ditched in the compromise measure with the Senate.
The No Child Left Behind rewrite is positive because it substantially reduces federally mandated damage from testing overkill, though, by itself, does little to advance assessment reform or otherwise improve education.
Those who did vote for the bill said they did so to give states and parents more control over education.
The annual testing regime implemented by No Child Left Behind remains in place under the bill. “Without a waiver, we would still be following No Child Left Behind, which was bad”.
The law would scale back the federal government’s education authority, so the law’s success will depend on states, with minimal federal assurances, showing they’re good-faith partners invested in rigorous expectations and students’ success – and not simply outward appearances of it. One of the more discouraging aspects of the congressional deliberations, for example, was the lack of appetite on either side of the aisle for vigorous teacher evaluations that take into account student achievement.
“The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 is an important step towards bringing sanity back to testing and accountability”, NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta said in a statement.
The Every Student Succeeds Act passed the House on Wednesday night by a vote of 359-64.
The group also wasn’t a fan of the remaining Common Core State Standards, the national education standards which have become the butt of a great deal of dissatisfaction nationwide.
Those metrics would include test scores, of course, but could also incorporate graduation rates, attendance, behavior, surveys of student engagement (as California’s CORE districts are now trying) and student work like projects and presentations (as New Hampshire is piloting).
The legislation also calls for the U.S. Department of Education to study how Title I funds are allocated – seeking to address Thompson’s long-held concerns that children are put at a disadvantage based upon the population of their school district, rather than concentration of poverty. But it provides other resources to help underperforming schools.
“It’s not a bill that everyone is thrilled with, but it is something we can all live with”, Mr. Todd said.
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“This is the federal government creating some latitude for the state to create a better testing and education system”, Mr. Burns said.
