• President’s State of the Union Touches on Renewing No Child Left Behind
• CEC to Co-Host Congressional Briefing on Universal Design for Learning

President’s State of the Union Touches on Renewing No Child Left Behind

In his sixth State of the Union address to the country, President Bush highlighted key policy areas his administration will focus on this year, including the reauthorization – renewal – of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While much of is speech focused on the war in Iraq and a new healthcare initiative, President Bush echoed sentiments offered by Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings earlier this month in pressing for Congressional action and celebrating the accomplishments of the law, specifically closing the achievement gap and raising accountability for all students. (See CEC Policy Update, January 12, 2007)

To expand upon the President’s speech, this week the Department of Education released Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act. The Department’s Blueprint was released to address areas of consideration in the reauthorization process of NCLB. During this process, Congress will consider what changes need to be made to improve the law. The reauthorization process typically occurs every five years for major legislation. While 2007 marks NCLB’s fifth anniversary, there has been wide speculation if the reauthorization process would occur prior to the 2008 presidential election. However, President Bush and Congressional leaders (Democrats and Republicans) have stated their commitment to reauthorizing NCLB this year.

The main goal of NCLB, having all students reach proficiency by the year 2014 remains intact and drives many of the policy proposals within the Blueprint. These policy proposals include:

Maintain annual academic assessments and accountability
Continued assessments in reading/language arts and math in grades 3-8.
States will report assessment results to parents and hold schools accountable for improving performance for all students.
Continued disaggregation of data and required 95 percent participate rate

Promote high state academic standards
States must report the proficiency rates for state and National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments on the same public report card
The Department of Education will support cross-state comparisons to help the public analyze and compare standards

Improved assessments and accountability for students with disabilities
Some students with disabilities may be assessed based on alternate and modified achievement standards. These standards must meet high quality standards and promote challenging instruction.

Flexibility for innovation and improvement
Greater use of growth models to measure and follow the progress of individual students over time, giving schools credit for improvement from year to year, while still ensuring that all students are proficient by 2014 in reading/language arts and math.

Flexibility through prioritized support for schools
Schools deemed “in need of improvement” can focus their school choice and supplemental educational service (i.e. tutoring) options on students not yet proficient, as long as the “all-student” group meets the state’s proficiency target and the school meets the 95 percent participation requirement for assessments.

Provide more flexibility in use of federal funds
States and districts will be able to transfer 100 percent – currently 50 percent – of federal funds between federal programs. Perkins Act funds will be included in the pool of funds that can be transferred.

Accelerate English language acquisition for LEP students
Maintain a strong commitment to assessment and accountability for all LEP students in the content areas as a driving force for improving instruction and outcomes.

Support innovation in the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program
States will be given funds to carry out the objectives of the Save and Drug-Free Schools grant program.

While CEC supports some of the Department’s policy recommendations, including the recommended use of growth models to measure student achievement, CEC objects to some of the policy proposals outlined in the Blueprint. Specifically, CEC opposes the use of Federal funds to provide vouchers for public school children wishing to attend private school in the proposal the Department has dubbed “school choice”. In addition, CEC does not support the Department’s recommendation that funding under the Perkins Act be transferable for activities carried out under NCLB. NCLB remains woefully under funded and Congress and the President need to do a better job of adequately funding this program, rather than taking funding from another program and masking it as “flexibility”.

In the upcoming months, CEC will be releasing its recommendations on the reauthorization of NCLB and how improvements can be made to the law that will positively impact students with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

Read President Bush’s State of the Union Speech

Read Buildng Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act

Read Chairman Miller’s (D-CA) Comments on the Blueprint

Read CEC’s Press Release on the 5th Anniversary of NCLB – January 2007

Tell CEC What Issues You Would Like Addressed in the Revision of NCLB

CEC to Co-Host Congressional Briefing on Universal Design for Learning

On February 23, 2007 CEC, in collaboration with other organizations, will host a briefing for members of Congress, their staffs and other interested parties on Universal Design for Learning, a promising strategy to assist struggling schools by improving achievement for all students, including students with disabilities, minority and economically disadvantaged students and those with limited English proficiency.

Based on years of innovative education research funded by the U.S. Department of Education and others, Universal Design for Learning is a framework for designing educational environments where all students can gain knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for learning. Universal Design for Learning has important implications for the implementation of IDEA 2004 and the upcoming NCLB reauthorization.

Speakers:

David Rose, Ed.D., Founder of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and a pioneer of Universal Design for Learning.

Grace Meo, veteran teacher, special education administrator and director of teacher professional development in Universal Design for Learning for CAST.

Austin Naughton, Special Educator and member of the NEA IDEA Special Education Resource Cadre who has implemented UDL in grades 6 through 12 in Massachusetts and California.

For more information, contact Kim Krocker-Hymes – kimk@cec.sped.org

Read CEC’s Universal Design for Learning on-line resources

More information on CEC’s Universal Design for Learning book