print this pageNo Child Left Behind Act continued
Unprecedented State & Local Flexibility
Problem
- For too long, federal education programs have come with unfunded federal mandates, one-size-fits-all approaches, and unnecessary and duplicative paperwork.
- When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was reauthorized in 1994, for example, states were required to regularly test public school students in reading and math. But this federal requirement did not come with the necessary flexibility and resources for states to focus their education strategies on what works to improve student achievement.
Solution
The No Child Left Behind Act provides unprecedented new flexibility for all 50 states and every local school district in America in the use of federal education funds. It will revitalize the "flexibility for accountability" agreement with States first struck by President George H.W. Bush during his historic 1989 education summit with the Nation's Governors at Charlottesville, Virginia. While prior flexibility efforts have focused on waiving some program requirements, the NCLB Act moves beyond this limited approach to give States and school districts unprecedented flexibility in the use of Federal education funds in exchange for strong accountability for results. No Child Left Behind in essence moves decision making away from Washington, D.C., and empowers states and local districts to make more decisions with federal funds for goals such as teacher quality, English language proficiency, technology, and after school enrichment.
- The Department of Education administers four major state grant programs -- Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools. New flexibility provisions in the NCLB Act will allow every school district in America to transfer up to 50 percent of the federal funding they receive between any one of these programs or to Title I. This will allow school districts to put resources into the programs that most closely match their unique local needs. States will be permitted to transfer may transfer up to 50 percent of their State administrative funding this way.
- The new law also includes a competitive State Flexibility Demonstration Program that permits up to seven States to consolidate the State administration and State activity funds from a variety of ESEA programs, including: the Innovative Programs Block Grant; the state administration components of Title I, Part A Grants (Education for the Disadvantaged); and the state administration and state activities components of Title I Part B (Reading First and Even Start). Participating States must enter an agreement with the Secretary covering the use of the consolidated funds, which may be used for any educational purpose authorized under the ESEA. As part of their plans, States also must enter into up to ten local performance agreements with districts, which will enjoy the same level of flexibility granted under the separate Local Flexibility Demonstration Program.
- A new Local Flexibility Demonstration Program would allow up 150 school districts to consolidate funds received under Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology State Grants, Innovative Programs, and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools programs. Participating districts would enter into performance agreements with the Secretary of Education, and would be able to use the consolidated funds for any ESEA-authorized purpose.
Focusing Resources on Proven Educational Methods
Problem
- Not enough attention has been focused on ensuring that education dollars are invested in programs that are research-based and proven to be effective in educating our children - particularly on proven approaches to reading and math instruction.
- Federal education policy has often focused on adding new programs, rather than investing more resources into proven approaches that work. Over the years, programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) expanded from 6 in 1965 to 55 in 2001.
Solution
Putting Reading First
- The No Child Left Behind Act implements President Bush's unequivocal commitment to ensuring that every child can read by the third grade. To accomplish this goal, the new Reading First initiative will significantly increase the Federal investment in scientifically based reading instruction programs in the early grades. One major benefit of this approach will be reduced identification of children for special education services due to a lack of appropriate reading instruction in their early years.
- The NCLB Act fully implements the President's Reading First initiative. The new Reading First State Grant program will make 6-year grants to States, which will make competitive subgrants to local communities. Local recipients will administer screening and diagnostic assessments to determine which students in grades K-3 are at risk of reading failure, and provide professional development for K-3 teachers in the essential components of reading instruction.
- The new Early Reading First program will make competitive 6-year awards to districts to support early language, literacy, and pre-reading development of preschool-age children, particularly those from low-income families. Recipients will use instructional strategies and professional development drawn from scientifically based reading research to help young children to attain the fundamental knowledge and skills they will need for optimal reading development in kindergarten and beyond.
Consolidating and Streamlining Federal Education Programs
- The No Child Left Behind Act consolidates and streamlines programs and targets resources to existing programs that serve poor students. It reduces the overall number of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs from the 55 to 45 - ensuring that education dollars will be more carefully targeted.
- Improving Teacher Quality: NCLB combines the Eisenhower Professional Development and Class Size Reduction programs into a new Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program that focuses on using practices grounded in scientifically based research to prepare, train, and recruit high-quality teachers. The new program gives States and districts flexibility to select the strategies that best meet their particular needs for improved teaching that will help them raise student achievement in the core academic subjects. In return for this flexibility, districts are required to demonstrate annual progress in ensuring that all teachers teaching in core academic subjects within the State are highly qualified.
- Improving Bilingual Education: The NCLB Act also simplifies Federal support for English language instruction by combining categorical bilingual and immigrant education grants, which previously benefited only a small percentage of limited English proficient students in relatively few schools, into a State formula program. The new formula program will facilitate comprehensive planning by States and school districts to ensure implementation of programs that benefit all limited English proficient students by helping them learn English and meet the same high academic standards as other students. The NCLB Act also inserts strong accountability into programs for bilingual students, requiring states to test limited English proficient children for reading and language arts in English after they have attended school in the United States for three consecutive years.
- Improving the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program: NCLB improves efforts to keep schools safe and drug-free, while at the same time ensuring that students-particularly those who have been victims of violent crimes on school grounds-are not trapped in persistently dangerous schools. As passed in No Child Left Behind, States must allow students who attend a persistently dangerous school, or who are victims of violent crime at school, to transfer to a safe school. States also must report school safety statistics to the public on a school-by-school basis, and districts must use Federal Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities funding to implement drug and violence prevention programs of demonstrated effectiveness.
For more information on the President's initiatives,please visit www.whitehouse.gov
Click HERE to go back to beginning of article