Joint Organizational Statement
on 'No Child Left Behind' Act

(Submitted to Congress on Oct. 21, 2004)
(Signers updated February 15, 2008)

The undersigned education, civil rights, children's, disability, labor, religious, and citizens' organizations are committed to the No Child Left Behind Act's objectives of strong academic achievement for all children and closing the achievement gap. We believe that the federal government has a critical role to play in attaining these goals. We endorse the use of an accountability system that helps ensure all children, including children of color, from low-income families, with disabilities, and of limited English proficiency, are prepared to be successful, participating members of our democracy.

While we all have different positions on various aspects of the law, based on concerns raised during the implementation of NCLB, we believe the following significant, constructive corrections are among those necessary to make the Act fair and effective. Among these concerns are: over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and instruction to focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning; over-identifying schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not help improve schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to boost test results; and inadequate funding. Overall, the law's emphasis needs to shift from applying sanctions for failing to raise test scores to holding states and localities accountable for making the systemic changes that improve student achievement.

Recommended Changes in NCLB

Progress Measurement

• Replace the law's arbitrary proficiency targets with ambitious achievement targets based on rates of success actually achieved by the most effective public schools.
• Allow states to measure progress by using students' growth in achievement as well as their performance in relation to pre-determined levels of academic proficiency.
• Ensure that states and school districts regularly report to the government and the public their progress in implementing systemic changes to enhance educator, family, and community capacity to improve student learning.
• Provide a comprehensive picture of students' and schools' performance by moving from an overwhelming reliance on standardized tests to using multiple indicators of student achievement in addition to these tests.
• Fund research and development of more effective accountability systems that better meet the goal of high academic achievement for all children

Assessments

• Help states develop assessment systems that include district and school-based measures in order to provide better, more timely information about student learning.
• Strengthen enforcement of NCLB provisions requiring that assessments must:

1. Be aligned with state content and achievement standards;
2. Be used for purposes for which they are valid and reliable;
3. Be consistent with nationally recognized professional and technical standards;
4. Be of adequate technical quality for each purpose required under the Act;
5. Provide multiple, up-to-date measures of student performance including measures that assess higher order thinking skills and understanding; and
6. Provide useful diagnostic information to improve teaching and learning.

• Decrease the testing burden on states, schools and districts by allowing states to assess students annually in selected grades in elementary, middle schools, and high schools.

Building Capacity

• Ensure changes in teacher and administrator preparation and continuing professional development that research evidence and experience indicate improve educational quality and student achievement.    
• Enhance state and local capacity to effectively implement the comprehensive changes required to increase the knowledge and skills of administrators, teachers, families, and communities to support high student achievement.

Sanctions

• Ensure that improvement plans are allowed sufficient time to take hold before applying sanctions; sanctions should not be applied if they undermine existing effective reform efforts.
• Replace sanctions that do not have a consistent record of success with interventions that enable schools to make changes that result in improved student achievement.

Funding

• Raise authorized levels of NCLB funding to cover a substantial percentage of the costs that states and districts will incur to carry out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at those levels without reducing expenditures for other education programs.
• Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100 percent of eligible children are served.

We, the undersigned, will work for the adoption of these recommendations as central structural changes needed to NCLB at the same time that we advance our individual organization's proposals.

1. Advancement Project
2. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)
3. American Association of School Administrators
4. American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA)
5. American Association of School Personnel Administrators
6. American Association of University Women
7. American Baptist Women's Ministries
8. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
9. American Counseling Association
10. American Dance Therapy Association
11. American Federation of Labor and Congress  of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
12. American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA)
13. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
14. American Federation of Teachers
15. American Friends Service Committee
16. American Humanist Association
17. American Music Therapy Association
18. American Occupational Therapy Association
19. American School Counselor Association
20. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
21. Americans for the Arts
22. Annenberg Institute for School Reform
23. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
24. Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA)
25. ASPIRA
26. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
27. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
28. Association of Education Publishers
29. Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO)
30. Association of Teacher Educators
31. Big Picture Company
32. Business and Professional Women/USA (BPW)
33. Center for Community Change
34. Center for Expansion of Language and Thinking
35. Center for Parent Leadership
36. Center for Policy Alternatives
37. Change To Win
38. Children's Aid Society
39. Children's Defense Fund
40. Church Women United
41. Citizens for Effective Schools
42. Coalition for Community Schools
43. Coalition of Essential Schools
44. Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism
45. Communities for Quality Education
46. Consortium for School Networking
47. Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders
48. Council for Exceptional Children
49. Council for Hispanic Ministries of the United Church of Christ
50. Council for Learning Disabilities
51. Council of Administrators of Special Education, Inc.
52. Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
53. Disciples Home Missions of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
54. Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)
55. Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children (DLD/CEC)
56. Education Action!
57. Education Law Center
58. Education Not Incarceration
59. Episcopal Church
60. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
61. Every Child Matters
62. FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
63. Forum for Education and Democracy
64. Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
65. Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GPAC)
66. Hmong National Development
67. Indigenous Women's Network
68. Institute for Language and Education Policy
69. International Reading Association
70. International Society for Technology in Education
71. International Technology Education Association
72. Japanese American Citizens League
73. Jobs with Justice
74. Learning Disabilities Association of America
75. League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
76. Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice of the United Church of Christ
77. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
78. NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF)
79. National Alliance of Black School Educators
80. National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education (NAAPAE)
81. National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE)
82. National Association for the Education and Advancement of Cambodian, Laotian
and Vietnamese Americans (NAFEA)
83. National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities
84. National Association of Federally Impacted Schools
85. National Association of Pupil Services Administrators
86. National Association of School Nurses
87. National Association of School Psychologists
88. National Association of Secondary School Principals
89. National Association of Social Workers
90. National Baptist Convention, USA (NBCUSA)
91. National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
92. National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE)
93. National Coalition of ESEA Title I Parents
94. National Conference of Black Mayors
95. National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP)
96. National Council for the Social Studies
97. National Council of Churches
98. National Council of Jewish Women
99. National Council of Teachers of English
100. National Education Association
101. National Education Taskforce
102. National Federation of Filipino American Associations
103. National Indian Education Association
104. National Indian School Board Association
105. National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)
106. National Mental Health Association
107. National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA
108. National Pacific Islander Educator Network
109. National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
110. National Reading Conference
111. National Rural Education Association
112. National School Boards Association
113. National School Supply and Equipment Association
114. National Science Teachers Association
115. National Superintendents Roundtable
116. National Urban League
117. Native Hawaiian Education Association
118. Network of Spiritual Progressives
119. Organization of Chinese Americans
120. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
121. People for the American Way
122. Presbyterian Church (USA)
123. Progressive National Baptist Convention
124. Protestants for the Common Good
125. Public Education Network (PEN)
126. Rural School and Community Trust
127. Service Employees International Union
128. School Social Work Association of America
129. Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
130. Social Action Committee of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations
131. Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
132. Stand for Children
133. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
134. The Holmes Partnership
135. United Black Christians of the United Church of Christ
136. United Church of Christ Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns
137. United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
138. United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
139. USAction
140. Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church
141. Women of Reform Judaism
142. Young Men's Empowerment Network

(List of signers updated February 2008)