Finally! The U.S. Senate joined the U.S. House in recently passing a bill to
replace the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The Senate bill, the Every
Child Achieves Act (S.1177) passed with strong bipartisan support on a vote
of 81-17, and with historic levels of input from educators. On behalf of
ASCD, we extend a huge thank you to those of you who contacted your senators
to improve the bill so it better supports students, educators, and schools.
Read on for information about the changes that S.1177 and the bill passed by
the House—the Student Success Act (H.R.5)—would put into practice and
compare them to ASCD’s 2015 Legislative Agenda (PDF).
Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): Now that both
the House and Senate have passed bills to reauthorize ESEA and replace NCLB
, the next step will be the forming of a House-Senate conference committee
to reconcile the differences between the bills to send one final package to
the President for his signature.
Honor and Support the Education Profession: Both the House and Senate bills
shift the Title II focus toward teacher and school leader effectiveness.
Both bills also eliminate highly qualified teacher requirements and provide
support for teacher and principal professional development that includes
induction, mentoring, and clinical experience. Neither bill requires states
to create teacher evaluation systems; however, the House bill specifies that
if states do create evaluation systems, they are allowed to use multiple
measures for evaluation while the Senate bill requires multiple evaluation
measures.
Establish a Multimetric Accountability System: Both bills eliminate NCLB’s
adequate yearly progress requirements and require states to create their own
accountability systems that annually measure student performance. The
Senate bill, however, states that these accountability systems must include
more than test scores. The Senate bill also requires states to show how they
monitor school climate, discipline, homeless children, and early education.
Reduce the Reliance on Standardized Testing: H.R.5 and S.1177 maintain NCLB
’s testing regimen—annual testing in grades 3–8 in math and English, and
grade span testing in science. The House bill states that students who opt
out of the federal testing mandate will not count against the required 95
percent participation rate. The Senate bill requires states to ensure that
parents receive information about federal testing requirements.
Promote a Whole Child Education: Although the House bill eliminates more
than 70 programs that support a whole child approach, the Senate bill
maintains these programs and requires states to monitor and report on
indicators such as school climate and safety. The Senate bill also creates a
new block grant program for states that provides support for mental and
physical health; bullying, harassment, and violence prevention; and school
readiness.
It’s true that this is a monumental and exciting time for educators and
education policy, but the heavy lifting isn’t quite finished. Stay tuned
with Capitol Connection as H.R.5 and S.1177 enter conference for more
opportunities to contact your representatives in Congress to ensure that our
federal education law best supports our schools. For more information, see
this comparison chart (PDF) that highlights key differences between S.1177
and H.R.5.
