Education Week: NCLB news

Education Week reports House Education Leaders Issue Draft NCLB Renewal Plan:

The leaders of the House education committee today released a draft of a plan for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, outlining proposals that would revise how adequate yearly progress is calculated and overhaul the interventions for schools failing to meet achievement goals.

In releasing the long-awaited plan, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., said that they were inviting comments from educators so that they can incorporate their ideas into the bill they hope to introduce shortly after Labor Day.

“This draft is a work in progress, subject to change over the coming weeks as the committee moves a bill through the legislative process,” Reps. Miller and McKeon wrote in a letter to “education stakeholders.”

“The committee has not endorsed this staff discussion draft,” adds the Aug. 27 letter, which was also signed by the Rep. Dale E. Kildee, D-Mich., and Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Education and Labor Committee's key subcommittee on K-12 education. “However, we believe it represents a starting point from which to receive input.”

An 11-page summary of the draft bill details many of the ideas the Rep. Miller previously said would be included in his reauthorization proposal, such as using so-called growth models to calculate AYP, adding measures other than statewide tests to allow schools to reach their progress goals, and differentiating interventions based on schools’ achievement levels.

The Washington Post looks at the story briefly in Congressman Offers Revisions to 'No Child'.

Elsewhere in Edweek, polling discovers that more Americans know about NCLB and fewer of them like it.