Education Committee Chair Highlights

NCLB Report, Expresses Concern about

Lack of Participation in School Choice,

Supplemental Services Options

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) today highlighted a report – released this morning by the U.S. Department of Education – on the progress made under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  The report, which is required by Congress to track the law’s Title I implementation, focuses on key provisions related to state assessments, accountability measures, trends in student achievement, teacher quality, school choice, and supplemental educational services.

Among the report’s major findings is that states are not notifying those schools which did not achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in a timely enough manner.  For example, regarding the 2003-04 academic year, only 15 states provided final AYP results to schools by September 2004.  Moreover, despite the fact that NCLB requires parents to be informed of a school’s AYP status prior to the beginning of the next school year, almost half of all school districts notified parents an average of five weeks after school had started. 

“As we approach next year’s reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, this report provides Congress, schools, and parents valuable information about the progress being made in implementing NCLB’s chief reforms,” said McKeon.  “While the report details generally strong progress toward meeting the law’s key goals, I’m particularly concerned that parents are not being informed quickly enough if their child’s school is not making adequate yearly progress.  In fact, this late notification seems to be impacting a parent’s ability to take advantage of school choice and supplemental educational services options under the law.”

The report supports McKeon’s concern, finding that in the 2003-04 school year less than one percent of students eligible to attend a different public or charter school through NCLB’s school choice provisions had actually taken advantage of the option.

“Access to school choice and supplemental services options is vital to the ultimate success of NCLB,” McKeon continued.  “Parents whose children are eligible to take advantage of them should be notified in a timely manner so they can make the fully-informed decisions about their children’s academic future.”

Other key findings of the report include:

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores in both reading and math have improved for 4th grade students, with Hispanic and African American students seeing more dramatic gains;

• The number of Title I schools that have been identified for improvement is roughly the same as it was before NCLB, disputing claims by education reform opponents that NCLB is too punitive;

• Only 14% of schools did not achieve AYP solely because of the performance on assessments by disabled students, while just four percent missed solely because of the assessment performance of limited English proficiency (LEP) students, disputing the claims of some that the performance of LEP and disabled students on assessments is the only reason schools are not achieving AYP; and

• Based on state reported data from the 2003-04 academic year, 86% of classes were taught by highly qualified teachers.

“As we continue a national discussion – from the classrooms in our schools to the kitchen tables in our homes – about what we need to do to ensure every child has access to a high-quality education, this report has uncovered valuable facts about both our successes in NLCB implementation and the areas in which we still need to work in closing the achievement gap in our nation’s schools,” concluded McKeon. 

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To view the full report, link to the U.S. Department of Education's website by clicking here.