Federal

Chiefs Crank Heat on ESEA Renewal

By Alyson Klein — February 08, 2011 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

If Congress fails to move soon on renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, states are poised to get going on their own ideas on accountability and other areas, according to a letter sent last week to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, education lawmakers, and party leaders on Capitol Hill.

Key lawmakers in Congress say they are gearing up to reauthorize the law, the current version of which is the No Child Left Behind Act. But if that doesn’t happen quickly, state schools chiefs plan to “propose new, innovative policy models in terms of accountability and other areas that move beyond” the NCLB law, the letter from the Council of Chief State School Officers says.

“We urge the administration and Congress to encourage and support this strategy—so that the current law doesn’t become a further barrier to innovation and achievement,” the letter adds.

The letter also makes clear that the CCSSO wants to see the federal government run with those state-led proposals, instead of making the sort of “discrete fixes” that other organizations—such as the American Association of School Administrators—have called for in asking for regulatory relief from the NCLB statute.

The chiefs say their new and improved plans would keep in place core parts of the law, including basing accountability on student outcomes.

Such elements include the current state-assessment schedule and progress on graduation rates, and disaggregation of data by subgroups, such as racial minorities and students in special education.

They also will seek to have their accountability plans work toward college and career readiness, and focus interventions on the lowest-performing schools, in addition to identifying top performers.

Beyond that, states may also propose other ideas, such as plans for a transition between the NCLB law and the new accountability systems. For instance, they might ask the Department of Education to let schools stay in their current accountability status while their states move to the new assessments and new models.

A version of this article appeared in the February 09, 2011 edition of Education Week as Chiefs Crank Heat on ESEA Renewal

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal What Would Happen to K-12 in a 2nd Trump Term? A Detailed Policy Agenda Offers Clues
A conservative policy agenda could offer the clearest view yet of K-12 education in a second Trump term.
8 min read
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, March 9, 2024, in Rome Ga.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, March 9, 2024, in Rome, Ga. Allies of the former president have assembled a detailed policy agenda for every corner of the federal government with the idea that it would be ready for a conservative president to use at the start of a new term next year.
Mike Stewart/AP
Federal Opinion Reading Scores Have Plunged Since the Pandemic. What This Senator Wants to Do About That
How can the nation support literacy efforts? The ranking Republican on the Senate education committee wants to hear from educators.
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Federal Biden Calls for Teacher Pay Raises, Expanded Pre-K in State of the Union
President Joe Biden highlighted a number of his education priorities in a high-stakes speech as he seeks a second term.
5 min read
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington.
Shawn Thew/Pool via AP
Federal Low-Performing Schools Are Left to Languish by Districts and States, Watchdog Finds
Fewer than half of district plans for improving struggling schools meet bare minimum requirements.
11 min read
A group of silhouettes looks across a grid with a public school on the other side.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva