Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill mount effort
to fix NCLB

Bill would address problems with law’s implementation

Leading Senate Democrats once again will try to make critical changes in the No Child Left Behind Act that will help address shortcomings in the law’s implementation and refocus NCLB on its mission of helping all children reach high academic standards in quality educational settings.

Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Improvement Act, originally introduced last year by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and other Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, have been incorporated into the Quality Education for All bill proposed by Democratic leaders. Kennedy also intends to offer the No Child Left Behind Improvement Act as a separate bill.

“The No Child Left Behind Act contains essential reforms for the nation’s schools. It’s time to keep the promise of those reforms for all students across the country,” Kennedy said when introducing his bill last year.

Among the provisions contained in Kennedy’s bill:

• Requiring states to make available to all teachers the “high objective uniform state standard of evaluation” (HOUSSE), an underused approach that allows teachers to demonstrate they are highly qualified based on their experience rather than the results of one test;
• Offering several changes in the highly qualified teacher requirements for subject matter competence (for example, teachers could meet the requirement by passing a middle school generalist exam or obtaining a state social studies or science certificate that qualifies the teacher to teach multiple related subjects in middle or high school); and
• Mandating that states and districts provide paraprofessionals with all the options outlined in NCLB for demonstrating their qualifications, including the option for an assessment.

The Kennedy bill also would clarify that nothing in NCLB should be construed to prohibit a local school district from being considered by a state as a supplemental services provider as long as it meets the state criteria. It also would subject supplemental service providers to all federal civil rights laws, require states to ensure that supplemental services personnel have adequate qualifications, and allow states to ensure that supplemental services are provided by highly qualified teachers.