May 18, 2006

Contact: Miguel Gonzalez    (202) 822-7823, 
 

NEA President Reg Weaver Calls on Bush Administration To Give States Flexibility in Measuring Student Progress

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Education announced this week that it would allow only two states, North Carolina and Tennessee, to use a pilot program called a “growth model” to measure student progress under the No Child Left Behind law.  Growth models are a more effective measure of student achievement than the Adequate Yearly Progress system, which measures the percentage of students who score at the proficient level on the day of the test.

While two states were approved for the growth model program, five other states (Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, South Carolina and Utah) that applied to the program were rejected and six other states (Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida and Oregon) were rejected after a second review.  The National Education Association and 80 national organizations have signed a joint statement regarding NCLB that calls for the expanded use of growth models.

The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Reg Weaver:

“Since this law was signed in 2002, NEA has shared the administration’s goals to improve and measure academic achievement.  That is why we called on the administration to abandon the current, one-day snapshot approach to measuring student progress.  It is not a valid or useful means for holding schools accountable. 

“We are encouraged that the U.S. Department of Education is allowing two states to participate in this pilot program—they now acknowledge the potential for a better way.  Yet other states were denied the opportunity to use this common-sense growth model system, which would give schools credit for progress in student achievement both over time and within the school year. 

“NEA stands ready to work with the administration to improve the current system and expand the growth model pilot program to include more states.  And we call on Congress to amend the law to include such a provision."  

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The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 2.8 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.