Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/48237
PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVE ESEA Bill Moves Forward with Some Victories for Public Education: More NATIONAL NATIONAL Work Still to Be Done After a 13-hour mark-up, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed by a vote of 15-7 a bill to amend and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) on October 20. Before the mark-up began, NEA had a major victory achieved through Association members' help and activism. Specifically, the original draft bill was amended to leave design and implementation of teacher evaluation to states and districts instead of mandating it at the federal level. With members' help, NEA had argued that, in a country as large and diverse as the United States, one size does not fit all, and, what works in a rural school district may be vastly different than what is effective in a large urban area. Highlights of the mark-up included: • Passage of an NEA-supported amendment by Senator Alexander (R-TN) to give additional flexibility to states and school districts to help turn around struggling schools. • Passage of an NEA-supported amendment by Senator Franken (D-MN) to ensure that school districts would not have to force teachers to transfer to other schools to meet requirements of "comparability" among schools. • Passage of an NEA-supported amendment by Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to help schools that serve disadvantaged and low-income students purchase computers, software, and other technology and train teachers in the use of technology. Formerly known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the HELP committee felt that NCLB held too many negative associations and chose to go back to the classic ESEA version of the act. Last month, President Obama announced a plan to provide relief to states from many of NCLB's more onerous provisions. At least 39 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, intend to apply for a waiver. (Arizona is one state that intends to apply for a waiver). Senators Harkin, Enzi, Alexander, and others in the Senate want to pass a bill by the end of the year, before the waivers are issued. More work needs to be done to ensure the final bill works for students and educators, par- ticularly to reduce the continued emphasis on testing. Keep informed on the progress of ESEA at www.educationvotes.org. ✒ WhErE WE Stand No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the current incarnation of President Lyndon Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), whose purpose was to raise achievement and close achievement gaps. NEA strongly supports these goals and is working to give all children great public schools. But educators know that NCLB as currently written can't get us there. NEA has made many proposals for rewriting and improving the law. In brief: • ESEA should promote innovation, high expectations, and encourage develop- ment of 21st -century skills in public schools. • ESEA should end the obsession with high-stakes, poor-quality tests by devel- oping high-quality assessment systems that provide multiple ways for students to show what they have learned. • ESEA should help provide great educa- tors and school leaders for every student. • ESEA should promote public education as a shared responsibility of parents, communities, educators, and policy makers. • ESEA should provide increased funding to all states and school districts to meet the growing demand for globally-com- petitive education of U.S. students. 24 Winter 2011/12 ❘ AEA Advocate