WEA Response to Harkin-Enzi ESEA Reauthorization Bill
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) is currently finalizing its draft of a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Kathryn Valido, Wyoming Education Association President (WEA), recently traveled to Washington, DC, to visit with Senator Enzi, Ranking Member on the committee, to share the concerns and interests of Wyoming educators.
"Wyoming's educators are fortunate to have Senator Enzi as a key leader on the Senate HELP Committee," Valido said. "Not only does he know and understand public education, but he is also willing to do the hard work of creating a bipartisan committee bill that considers everyone's interests."
Positives in the proposed bill include:
· AYP. The proposal eliminates the arbitrary deadline for 100 percent proficiency. Instead, it requires all schools to demonstrate "continuous improvement." While this would appear to eliminate AYP, the proposal does not eliminate accountability. The draft also retains disaggregation of student achievement data - a critical piece to monitor achievement gaps among disadvantaged student populations. It also requires monitoring of the five percent of schools with the greatest achievement gaps in the state.
· Growth models. The draft provides flexibility to states and districts and schools to measure "student growth" and take actions to improve student achievement.
· College and career-ready standards. The draft includes positive movement toward college and career ready standards by 2013 without federal control over the content. This is in sync with WEA's support of and work with the development of the Common Core Standards.
· English Language Learners. The draft requires high quality ELL standards aligned with reading and math standards by 2014. It also extends to two years the time certain ELL students are required to be enrolled in school before being required to take the English language assessment in English.
· Parental involvement. The draft provides a stronger focus on strategic, evidence-based parent/family engagement requirements and strategies. However, it does not provide enough equitably distributed funding for parent/family engagement and school district-based Parent Information Resource Centers.
WEA's concerns in the proposed bill include:
· No requirement for multiple measures of school or student performance. The draft allows, but does not require, multiple measures of school performance (including school climate, resources, or other conditions of teaching and learning). Nor does it require multiple measures of student learning that are not assessment-based, except for purposes of implementing the Teacher Incentive Fund.
· Troubling school turnaround models. The proposal expands the number of turnaround models but only one involves whole school reform using evidence-based strategies. Most of the models involve staff replacement, which is unrealistic in a rural state such as Wyoming.
"We remain committed to advocating that school accountability systems contain true multiple measurs of performance and embrace promising, locally-developed ideas to turn around struggling schools and allow educators to have a real voice in reform," said National Education Association President, Dennis Van Roekel. "We look forward to continuing these discussions with Senator Harkins, Enzi and the members of the committee as the legislation moves forward."
"Educators continue to advocate for accountability systems that make sense, that measure student progress accurately, are research-based and provide feedback to the parents and community that is clear and understandable," Valido concluded.
