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Snowe-Collins
Bill Urges 'Common Sense' Reform to NCLB
By: Ruth-Ellen
Cohen
BANGOR - Sens.
Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have introduced
legislation that would provide "common sense
reforms" to No Child Left Behind, the federal
education reform act that has drawn criticism
across the country since it was passed in 2002.
The proposed legislation, which would allow
Maine and other states greater local control and
flexibility in complying with NCLB, is built on
the major recommendations made by a committee
created by Snowe and Collins in 2004 to address
Maine's concerns surrounding the controversial
law.
As part of the proposed legislation, schools
could use new and different ways to demonstrate
that students are making educational progress;
parents and teachers could determine how to
gauge the academic performance of students with
special needs; and teachers could have more
leeway in meeting the "highly qualified"
requirements for educators.
Anne Pooler, co-chairwoman of the committee and
an associate dean at the University of Maine
College of Education and Human Development, said
Wednesday that "the senators and their staffs
did an incredible job of taking a mosaic of
thinking and putting some legislative shape to
it."
"Our two senators spent a lot of their time and
resources on making sure that the people in
Maine had a voice," Pooler said.
In a written statement, Snowe and Collins said
the legislation not only makes important changes
as to how states can implement the federal law,
but also "stays true to the worthy goals of No
Child Left Behind, such as increasing
accountability, closing the achievement gap and
improving student performance."
With the proposed legislation, even if a school
is unable to meet the NCLB timeline, it would
not be identified as failing to make adequate
educational progress as long as it demonstrates
improved achievement by following the same group
of students over time; by bringing up the scores
of low-performing students, even if they are
still below proficiency; and by closing the gap
between the state's lowest- and
highest-performing students.
Also under the proposed legislation, the
assessments given to students with special needs
would be decided by parents and education
specialists who determine the child's individual
education plan.
Some students with special needs now are allowed
to take a different assessment, but most must
take the same test as nonspecial needs students.
The proposed bill also would provide more
flexibility for middle and high school teachers
to meet NCLB quality requirements. Teachers of
multiple subjects would be allowed to
demonstrate they are highly qualified in just
one subject and given extra time to become
highly qualified in the others. The law also
would allow teachers of history, geography,
civics and related subjects to demonstrate
competency through a general state social
studies certificate.
By the end of the current school year, teachers
must show they are highly qualified by holding a
bachelor's degree, being fully certified and
demonstrating competency in the subject area
they teach. The current requirements "make it
difficult for small and rural schools to have a
highly qualified teacher for each subject,"
Pooler noted.
Among other things, the proposed legislation
would allow:
. The 100 percent proficiency requirements for
2013 and 2014 to be modified pending the result
of federal reviews every three years.
. A school to be found in need of improvement
only after failing to make adequate progress in
the same subject area and with the same subgroup
of students two years in a row.
. Limited English-proficient students to be
counted within that subgroup until they graduate
for the purposes of calculating adequate yearly
progress.
Also under the proposed bill, the minimum amount
of federal funding for NCLB's assessment
requirements would be raised to ensure that
schools have adequate resources to implement the
law.
The National School Boards Association,
representing more than 95,000 local school board
members across the nation, has endorsed the
proposed legislation.
In her statement to President Bush on Tuesday,
Collins said the legislation she and Snowe
drafted "would provide common sense reforms in
keeping with the worthy goals of the statute."
"We believe that our legislation will provide a
strong basis for continuing discussions about
the implementation challenges facing the states
and will highlight key issues requiring further
consideration during the reauthorization
process" next year, she said.
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