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Washington, DC -- In response to news that the U.S. Department of Education will soon allow a few states to measure academic progress over time, Congressman Wu says the change does not go far enough.
"In order to meet the intent of the law--to improve education for our children--we need to build in some flexibility for every state," stated Congressman Wu. "My legislation would allow all schools to measure results over time, rather than the current model which is a public policy equivalent to giving students only A's or F's."
While Congressman Wu agrees the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) enacted many good reforms to improve accountability, parental involvement, and teacher quality, the law is being implemented in a manner that is inflexible and unhelpful to students, teachers, and administrators. Congressman Wu's legislation, the No Child Left Behind Improvement and Flexibility Act (H.R. 4216), works to improve the law by incorporating flexibility to help Oregon schools implement these reforms while maintaining the Act's strong standards and accountability provisions.
Congressman Wu's legislation fully assesses a school's performance by acknowledging all progress made as the school works toward meeting the federal mandates. His legislation allows schools to use a growth model to demonstrate they are making continuous and substantial academic improvement for all students over time.
The difference between Congressman Wu's legislation and the recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Education is that the department is limiting the use of the growth model to just ten states.
Congressman Wu continued, "While I welcome the flexibility, it is being implemented unfairly. Too many schools are at risk of losing vital federal dollars. Each school should be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate its hard work is paying off."
Congressman Wu drafted his legislation last year based on the collective experience of the Oregon education community to improve NCLB and better support our schools as they work towards meeting strong accountability standards.
Furthermore, Congressman Wu remains concerned that NCLB continues to be under-funded. To date, the cumulative shortfall since enactment in 2001 is $40.1 billion.
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