Both Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Rep. John Kline (R-MN) Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, put a No Child Left Behind rewrite at the top of their to-do lists in 2015. After multiple stops and starts in the House, the House and Senate Conferees have come to an agreement, which they announced last week and revealed today.
The long-negotiated Every Student Succeeds Act which would reauthorize theElementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind, is expected to draw wide support for fixing the existing law, though there may be some objections over how much control is given to states. Some conservatives may argue for more state control over education programs, while civil rights groups are keeping a close eye on the flexibility states will have over accountability.
The measure would require states to test students in reading and math in third through eighth grades and once in high school, as well as separate the data by student subgroups — racial minorities, poverty, special education and English learners. Performance goals on those tests and for the subgroups would be decided at the state level.
States and districts would be required to intervene in the lowest performing 5 percent of schools, high schools where less than 67 percent of students graduate and schools in which any subgroup of students is consistently underperforming. But the plan for action at those schools would be at the discretion of state and local school officials, while the federal Education Department has the authority to approve or disapprove the overall statewide accountability system.
The House and Senate are expected to consider and pass the conference agreement before Congress recesses for the Christmas holiday.
A copy of the conference agreement can be found here.