Chairman Miller: While Maintaining Accountability in Schools, We Must Make the Law Fair, Flexible, and Funded
Announces Six Key Features of Bill to Reauthorize No Child Left Behind

Monday, July 30, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- In a speech at the National Press Club today, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), said that, while the nation must maintain its commitment to the goals of the No Child Left Behind law of closing the academic achievement gap and helping all children learn by holding states and schools accountable for students’ academic progress, we must also make significant changes to the law in order to reach those goals.  

“We would be wrong to waver when it comes to the existing goals and standards of the No Child Left Behind law,” said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.  “We would also be wrong if we failed to respond to the serious concerns with the law raised by people who sincerely care about America’s educational future.  America must have an education law that treats schools and children fairly, that provides educators and administrators the flexibility they need to meet high standards, and that delivers to schools the resources they need to improve and succeed.”

Miller said it was critical to make the right changes. “Social and economic opportunity begins in the classroom.  Discovery and innovation begin in the classroom,” said Miller. “It is essential to have a high quality and engaged education system to carry out the continuous quest of redeeming America’s promise of equality for all people to fully participate in a thriving democratic system.”

Miller highlighted six major features that will be part of legislation he intends to pass in committee and on the floor of the House in September:

• Providing much-needed fairness and flexibility.

The legislation will give credit to states and schools for the progress that their students make over time through the use of growth models. It will continue to place strong emphasis on reading and math skills, but it will also allow states to use more than their reading and math test results to determine how well schools and students are doing, in order to assess student learning and school performance more fairly, comprehensively, and accurately. For high schools, one measure will be graduation rates. Finally, the legislation will drive improvements in the quality and appropriateness of the tests used for accountability.  This is especially important for English language learners and students with disabilities, who will continue to be included in the accountability system.

• Encouraging a rich and challenging learning environment and promoting best practices and innovation taking place in schools throughout the country.

The bill will encourage employers and colleges to come together as stakeholders with the states to jointly develop more rigorous standards that meet the demands of both, a process already begun in many states. The standards will be developed not to reflect just basic skills and memorization, but critical thinking skills and the ability to apply knowledge to new and challenging contexts, skills that today’s students will need to work in teams and collaborate across companies, communities and continents.  

• Supporting teachers and principals.

Because no factor matters more to children’s educational success than the quality of their teachers and principals, the bill will seek to ensure that poor and minority students are taught by teachers with expertise in the subjects they are teaching. The legislation will provide for performance pay for principals and teachers based on fair and proven models, teacher mentoring and teacher career ladders, and improved working conditions, consistent with the Teach Act first introduced two years ago.

• Continuing to hold schools accountable for students’ progress.

The bill will continue to hold schools accountable for all students, including minority and low-income students, students learning English and students with disabilities. Under current law, schools whose students have not made adequate achievement gains are all treated the same – with the same interventions and sanctions taking place over the same period of time. The legislation will distinguish among different schools and the challenges facing them, as well as their needs for addressing those challenges.  

• Joining the effort to improve America’s high schools.

Over 30 percent of all high school students do not receive a diploma. The bill will include comprehensive steps to turn around low-performing middle and high schools. Building on efforts by state governors, it will include uniform standards for measuring graduation rates that are fair, accurate, reliable, and will do more to keep students in school.

• Investing in our schools.

Miller today urged President Bush to support the increases in education funding contained in the House-passed Labor-HHS-Education spending bill.

“President Bush’s legacy will not be established if he vetoes the education funding in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill,” said Miller. “The legacy of a great American education system for our children and our country cannot be built on the cheap. America deserves better.”

To read Chairman Miller’s full speech on the future of NCLB, please click here.

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