Federal

Nebraska Tangles With U.S. Over Testing

By Rhea R. Borja — February 20, 2007 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

After first rejecting the state’s approach outright, federal officials now say it is nearing compliance.

Sometimes, being a maverick comes with a price.

In late June, the U.S. Department of Education rejected Nebraska’s localized system of academic standards and student assessments, contending that the state had failed to comply with reporting requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The department said the state had not shown that its local measurement systems align to academic standards, are technically reliable, and have valid reading and mathematics content and achievement standards in grades 3-8 and high school, among other shortcomings.

The kicker? The federal Education Department would withhold 25 percent of Nebraska’s administrative funds under the Title I program for disadvantaged students unless the state provided further documentation that it complied with the law.

See Also

The “nonapproval” stamp made Nebraska Commissioner of Education Doug Christensen angry. He declared that Nebraska would not adopt a statewide standardized test, which he says pits schools against one another.

“We don’t give a damn about ranking schools,” the state chief said recently, recalling the dispute. “We refuse to do it.”

Shortly after getting word of the federal action, the commissioner fired off a three-page memo to “all Nebraskans” to express his frustration. “I cannot recall a professional issue in my over 40 years as an educator over which I have been so disappointed,” he wrote in the July 5 memo. “We feel blindsided.”

A flurry of e-mails and phone calls between federal and Nebraska education officials ensued. In addition, supporters mailed about 150 letters to the federal Education Department voicing their approval of Nebraska’s system.

Pushing for Evidence

Later last summer, federal officials said Nebraska’s assessment system may indeed meet NCLB requirements. But they also said the state needed to give more evidence that it does.

Federal Officials Lay Out Assessment To-Do List

bull; After initially rejecting Nebraska’s assessment system as out of compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act, the U.S. Department of Education is now requiring the state to take certain steps by this school year to pass muster with the federal law. To win full approval, the department says the state must:

• Conduct peer reviews of each district’s standards and assessment system and determine which districts have not met NCLB requirements, in such areas as academic content and achievement standards, technical quality, and assessment and curricula alignment;

• Describe the range of sanctions that the state will impose on districts that fail to meet standards for NCLB compliance; and

• Give evidence of peer review and approval that the assessments for English-language learners meet NCLB requirements

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education

The federal agency stated that Nebraska had to shorten its timeline for peer reviews of its local assessment systems—conducted by trained teacher-leaders—from three years to one. The state was also directed to provide more evidence on other items, such as disaggregated student data in reading and mathematics in grades 3-8 and high school through a statewide data system, and samples of student-assessment reports.

Since last summer, Nebraska has met most the items asked for. As a result, federal officials have changed the state’s status to “approval pending.”

Maine, the only other state to get a “nonapproval” label last summer, has also since had its status upgraded to approval pending. Maine has used local assessments to supplement its statewide reading and math tests, but last May put those district-level tests on hold. Commissioner of Education Susan A. Gendron now wants the legislature to repeal them altogether.

In its bid to win final federal approval, meanwhile, Nebraska has trained more than 110 educators to fan out across the state’s 77,358 square miles in four waves to help validate the 264 districts’ assessments systems.

The NCLB law does not bar states from using local assessment systems, said Catherine E. Freeman, the deputy assistant secretary for policy in elementary and secondary education for the federal Education Department.

“There are many ways a state may show alignment [of state standards and tests],” she said in a recent interview. “But the requirement is that they must submit evidence that their peers acknowledge to be sound.”

Nebraska has until June 15 to submit the peer reviewers’ findings.

Coverage of new schooling arrangements and classroom improvement efforts is supported by a grant from the Annenberg Foundation.
A version of this article appeared in the February 21, 2007 edition of Education Week as Nebraska Tangles With U.S. Over Testing

Events

School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Teaching Students to Use Artificial Intelligence Ethically
Ready to embrace AI in your classroom? Join our master class to learn how to use AI as a tool for learning, not a replacement.
Content provided by Solution Tree
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Teaching Webinar
Empowering Students Using Computational Thinking Skills
Empower your students with computational thinking. Learn how to integrate these skills into your teaching and boost student engagement.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way

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 Here's How Much Linda McMahon's Foundation Has Donated to Education Causes
The president-elect's pick for education secretary has long given to education causes through her family foundation.
5 min read
Linda McMahon, former Administrator of Small Business Administration, speaks during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee.
Linda McMahon, former Administrator of Small Business Administration, speaks during the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. McMahon, Trump's choice to lead the U.S. Department of Education in his second term, has a long history of giving to education causes through her family foundation.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Federal Republicans Preview Their Education Priorities in a Second Trump Term
In a hearing, Republicans called for more civics education and expressed concerns over "critical race theory" in schools.
5 min read
Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., Chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, speaks during a hearing on antisemitism in K-12 public schools, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, speaks during a hearing on antisemitism in K-12 public schools on May 8, 2024, in Washington. At a hearing on Dec. 4, 2024, the subcommittee discussed civics and government curriculum.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Federal Opinion The Trump Administration Should 'Devolve the Ed Dept.'s Responsibilities to the States'
After six years helming the House ed. committee, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx cuts loose on high points and frustrations of her tenure.
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal What's in the Lawsuit That Alleges Linda McMahon Failed to Protect Children
The lawsuit filed by former World Wrestling Entertainment workers alleges a culture of acceptance of sexual misconduct.
8 min read
Small Business Administration administrator Linda McMahon attends a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Aug. 16, 2018, in Washington.
Linda McMahon attends a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Aug. 16, 2018, in Washington. McMahon, then head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Education Department in his new administration.
Andrew Harnik/AP