Nine Changes Help NCLB, But More Needs To Be Done

NEA, its affiliates, and other organizations have been advocating for changes to No Child Left Behind since its inception, and we will continue to press for common sense changes to help make accountability work.  While much more needs to be done to turn the promise of this federal law into a reality for all children, the Department of Education has made substantive changes to regulations that govern implementation of NCLB.

As of February 2006, the Department has announced rules changes in nine different areas. In addition, it has negotiated with some states and districts over other issues. Here are the rule changes so far:

• Special education (2 changes)
• Limited English Proficient (LEP) students 
• Highly Qualified teacher rules 
• 95 percent test participation 
• Paraprofessional deadline extension
• Hurricane AYP flexibility 
• Highly Qualified teacher timeline extension 
• Growth models 
• Supplemental Educational Services (SES)  

Special education: Students with significant cognitive disabilities may now take a test based on alternate achievement standards and have proficient scores from such tests count toward Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Details on this rule change, which was issued Dec. 9, 2003, can be found on the Department of Education Web site.

The second change allows states to establish modified achievement standards  for students with disabilities who need extra time to reach grade-level proficiency. Up to 2 percent of all students -- that's about 18 percent of students with disabilities -- can have proficient scores on such assessments count toward measuring AYP.  NEA President Reg Weaver called this change "another small step in the right direction" in a December 2005 news release.  (See the ED site for details on this rule change.)

LEP students: In February 2004, the Education Department announced that states may exempt children who have been in the country less than a year from taking the reading test, although they must still take a separate English-language proficiency test required of all LEP students. The new immigrant students must still take the math test, but their scores do not count if they have been in the school for less than a full academic year.  Also, states may continue to count students who have exited the LEP subgroup for AYP purposes for up to two years. (If students leave the LEP subgroup when they become proficient in English, that means the LEP subgroup can never actually achieve the goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading.) Students would still count in meeting the 95 percent participation rule.  Details on the rule change are on the ED Web site.

Highly Qualified teacher rules: New rules for rural school teachers, science teachers, and teachers of multiple subjects were announced in March 2004.

• Rural teachers "highly qualified" in one subject were given one to three more years to become highly qualified in other subjects they teach.
• States with "broad-based" science certification counts for a teacher to be highly qualified in any science discipline.
• States can establish a "streamlined" process under their High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) for teachers of multiple subjects to establish their competency. (It is not clear how useful this change actually is, since such teachers still must prove their competency in each subject.)

Details on these rule changes are available on the ED Web site.

95 percent test participation: NCLB initially required that 95 percent of a school's total students and of each subgroup of students pass the test used in determining AYP.  Under a policy change announced in March 2004, states could average participation rates over a three-year period. In addition, students who are unable to take the test during the testing and make-up windows because of a significant medical emergency would not count against the school’s participation rate.

In addition, a state could use data from the previous year or two to average the participation rate data for a school and/or subgroup. If this two- or three-year average met or exceeded 95 percent, the school would still meet the AYP requirement. (The reason this is important is that some schools had been labeled as failing when only one or two students in a subgroup were absent.)

Get more details on these changes on the ED Web site.

Paraprofessional deadline extension: Thanks to NEA's lobbying efforts, the deadline for Title I paraprofessionals to meet the "highly qualified" requirements of NCLB has been extended from January 8, 2006, to the end of the 2005-2006 school year. NEA proposed the para extension so that it was consistent with the deadline for teachers. In June 2005, the Education Department agreed. The press release from ED gives more information.

Hurricane flexibility: Immediately after the hurricanes devastated the Gulf Coast area, NEA President Weaver requested that schools damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes get some much needed flexibility on AYP and "highly qualified" rules for schools and educators.  At the end of September 2005, the Education Department acknowledged the need and announced that those impacted schools would have a one-year delay in the imposing of any additional AYP sanctions. Other affected schools could ask for waivers from ED. (No automatic waivers would be given regarding the "highly qualified" rules.)  Read ED Secretary Margaret Spellings' announcement of the changes.

Highly Qualified teacher extension: In October 2005, the Department announced that states that meet certain criteria could receive a one-year extension of the 2005-06 deadline for having all teachers of core academic subjects meet the NCLB "highly qualified" rules. NEA President Weaver called it a step in the right direction, but noted that it would have been simpler to provide a one-year extension to all states.  Read the ED announcement.

Growth models: Responding to repeated calls by NEA and other groups, the Education Department announced in November 2005 that up to ten states would be approved to use a "growth model"  -- an approach that allows for a measure of improvement in student achievement over time-- during this school year. This is in contrast to AYP snapshots of achievement currently in use.  States interested in using this growth model must apply by February 17, 2006. Read the ED press release on this change.

NEA has two concerns about this change. One is that any growth model must still ensure that 100 percent of all students are proficient in reading and math by 2013-14. A second concern is that the growth model is still based on only two test scores.

Supplemental Educational Services (SES): The Education Department has barred school districts labeled "in need of improvement" from serving as SES providers. But a deal negotiated with the Chicago public schools allows the district to continue to provide supplemental services, with certain conditions. Other big city districts (New York and Boston) have also been given waivers, and more are expected.

Four Virginia districts were allowed to reverse the order of choice and SES, while Florida was told that no entity affiliated with a district barred from being an SES provider may itself be an approved provider. Find details on the ED Web site.