House passes bill to scale back No Child Left Behind Act

Observers expect the Senate and President Obama to approve the education changes.

In the House, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen said the new measure, called the Every Student Succeeds Act, will move past No Child Left Behind, which he said has held back students and teachers for more than a decade.

This summer as the House and Senate passed their own versions of the final bill now in front of Congress, she expressed optimism about its potential.

Instead, state and local officials will set academic goals and decide if schools are making acceptable progress.

And the goal was to reach 100% proficiency in math and reading at every school across the country.

While the legislation has yet to head to the White House, the Obama Administration has offered support for the measure, saying it will cement American schools’ progress in raising academic expectations and graduation rates.

Taylor and Dianna Wentzell, the state’s education commissioner, also said they are happy with the state’s present method of rating schools and its strategy for improving low-performing schools. I urge my colleagues in join [sic] in passing this strong bipartisan reauthorization of the historic ESEA, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

“Today, we turn the page on the failed status quo and turn over to our nation’s parents and our state and local leaders the authority, flexibility and certainty they need to deliver children an excellent education”, he said.

Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney of Cold Spring described the bill as “taking steps to fix the broken policies of No Child Left Behind”.

Gonzalez said states needed to fight back against too much federal involvement in their state education policies.

Some elements of NCLB’s mandates for accountability would continue, with some changes.

The bill, however, retains annual testing requirements in math and reading.

But NCLB’s feet-to-the-fire federal accountability system is largely extinguished.

Under the bill, the Education Department would have a much-diminished role and no longer be able to sanction schools that fail to improve. “We were telling everyone they had to learn the same because this is the same way they should learn”.

“I would like to see the state follow through”, said James Kettrick, superintendent of Indian River Central School District.

“That’s the rub; they don’t want to do another API”, Plank said.

The measure includes limits on the agency to end mandates and the federal approval requirement that were elements of No Child Left Behind.

“It was important to me that this legislation address significant concerns that I share with my constituents with Common Core”, Ms. Stefanik said.

A former school committee member and state lawmaker known for her focus on public education, Clark has pushed forward her bills and amendments that prioritize closing achievement gaps and expanding early education. John Affeldt, managing attorney for Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization, expressed the ambivalence.

It attempts to shrink the federal government’s role in schools to appease conservatives, while still comparing the performances of states and individual schools for progressives.