Chairman Miller: New Report Highlights Ineffectiveness of Bush-backed Testing Program for Young Children

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today on a new report released by the National Academy of Sciences that makes recommendations on the use of quality assessments for young children in early childhood education programs. Among other things, the report found that the National Reporting System, a standardized test promoted by the Bush administration, which until recently was administered to four- and five- year old children enrolled in Head Start, did not meet appropriate testing standards. Last year Congress ended the testing program in its Head Start Reauthorization, the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007.

“As this report confirms, Congress did the right thing for young children, early childhood education programs, and taxpayers by ending a test that was poorly conceived and implemented, and was never proven to be valid, reliable, or effective. If we have learned anything about the Bush administration over the past eight years, it’s that this President has no problem squandering millions upon millions of taxpayers dollars on unproven and controversial initiatives, or ignoring serious and legitimate concerns raised by scientists. While this no longer comes as a surprise, it’s shamefully irresponsible that this administration wasted more than $25 million on a testing program that scientists and experts believed could actually hurt the development of young children.

“Nothing is more important than investing in our children from their earliest years on. This study should serve as a valuable resource for both the federal government and states as we continue our efforts to strengthen our nation’s early childhood education programs so that we can help all children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed.”

BACKGROUND

In 2003 Democrats in Congress first proposed calling for the NAS study and the suspension of the National Reporting System in light of concerns raised by scientists and child development and early education experts about the appropriateness of the National Reporting System. A 2005 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the National Reporting System was not sufficiently reliable or valid.

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