Senate bill to rework No Child Left Behind would allow states to drop Common Core testing
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Lamar Alexander discuss education issues during a 2014 conference.
WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee Tuesday (April 14) began work on legislation backers say will fix the "broken" 14-year-old "No Child Left Behind Act, giving states and local governments more control over testing as long as they still measure student achievement.
Senate Health, Education, Labor, Health and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said the rewrite of the nation's top education law he and the panel's top Democratic negotiated would still mandate that school systems include all students and subgroups of students in whatever accountability system they design.
A provision added by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, would bar the federal government from using its authority to approve grants and waivers to pressure states to adopt the so-called Common Core standards. They were developed by nation's governors but are now opposed by some of its former supporters. Among them: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who is running to replace the term-limited Jindal.
Cassidy, a physician, also has several amendments pending as the Senate committee moves to finalize the bill before it reaches the Senate floor during what is expected to be four days of meetings:
- One would authorizing federal funding to help states and local school districts train teachers and principals and other school leaders to understand, identify and develop curriculum for students with dyslexia. One of Cassidy's daughters has dyslexia, and he and wife helped found a Baton Rouge charter school to educate children with dyslexia after not finding suitable public school programs.
- Another Cassidy amendment, offered with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., would allow states to do their own evaluations to determine what assessment tests can be eliminated without hurting education.
- A third, offered with Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., would authorize federal funds to cover at least a portion of the costs for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams for low-income students, as well as for adding teachers in low-income schools qualified to teach accelerated learning courses.
"Empowering parents, teachers and students starts by tailoring learning curriculums to students' needs, not government demands," Cassidy said.
Alexander, the panels' chairman, said the No Child Left Behind Law hasn't been modified since 2001, and that now the only way states can escape from its outdated requirements is by getting a waiver from the Education Department.
"We have found remarkable consensus about the urgent need to fix this broken law, and also on how to fix it," Alexander said of his negotiations with the panel's top Democrat, Patty Murray of Washington.
The bill continues the currently required two tests in reading and math per child per year in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, as well as science tests given three times between grades 3 and 12. A pilot program will allow states additional flexibility to experiment with innovative assessment systems within states.Senate bill to rework No Child Left Behind would allow states to drop Common Core testing | NOLA.com:
