“Nationwide, our high school seniors are not where they need to be in math and reading. It is hard to be excited about the small gains some students are making when we know that all students, in every state, in every school, need to be making gains for both their success in life and the future of this country,” said Miller.  “This report makes it very clear that we need real change in our schools, so we can finally see real results on a national level. The case for dramatic education reform is written in the pages of this report. It is simply unacceptable for only a small demographic of students to progress.”

“Reports like these, while limited in fully evaluating how we educate our children, are informative. Because of the NAEP reports we know that our students have only made small gains in math. While I’m encouraged that New Jersey students are doing better in math relative to the national average, neither the state nor national assessment should be satisfactory to anyone,” said Holt. “We still must act aggressively to improve the math and science education that is critical to developing the technically sophisticated workforce that is in increasingly high demand in the 21st century.”

More information on the NAEP report

“When a student athlete suffers a concussion, he or she needs support on the field and support in the classroom to ensure a full recovery. Unfortunately, the pressure to play too often outweighs a student athlete’s safety concerns. Thankfully, there is a growing movement among players, coaches, parents and professional athletes to change this old way of thinking,” said Miller, co-sponsor of the concussions legislation. “The legislation we introduced this week recognizes that sports are deeply ingrained in our communities and our culture which is why the safety and well-being of student athletes have to be the top priority.”

“Concussions are an unfortunate reality of all sports at all levels of competition,” said Congressman Tim Bishop.  “Providing athletes, parents, coaches and teachers with the tools to properly diagnose and treat concussions will make sports safer and ensure student athletes are performing at their best in the classroom and on the field.”   

The legislation, the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act, is modeled after recent state action in Washington, Oregon, and other states that have passed laws to help reduce the risk of concussions in youth sports.  It would, for the first time, make sports safer for student athletes by asking school districts to implement a concussion safety and management plan.
 
The plan that school districts develop must educate students, parents, and school personnel about concussion safety and how to support students recovering from concussions.
 
It would require schools to post information about concussions on school grounds and on school websites. It would also support “when in doubt, sit it out” policies for students suspected of sustaining a concussion during a school-sponsored athletic activity.
 
Witnesses discussed the importance of focusing on the student, as well as the student athlete.
 
“The consequences of a concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury, can be significant for the academic learning and performance of the student learning,” said Gerard Gioia, Ph.D., Director of Neuropsychology at the Children’s National Medical Center. “The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act places the focus directly on the student side of the student athlete equation. This bill focuses on what schools can do to support the academic return of the injured/recovering student.”
 
Nearly 90 percent of students report significant worsening of post-concussion symptoms when they attempt school tasks, according to Dr. Gioia’s research.
 
Alison Conca-Cheng, a senior soccer player from Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, discussed how her recent concussion on August 20, has affected her academic performance.

“About 45 minutes into my hour-long class periods, my concentration would be completely gone and I would develop a splitting headache. This has been a big problem for me, as I am taking five Advanced  Placement classes,” said Conca-Cheng. “Reading textbooks and articles for homework was particularly difficult. It would take me twice as long, and it would be a constant battle with my concentration.”

Concussions cause a spectrum of symptoms, commonly including altered mental status, physical symptoms, cognitive problems and difficulty sleeping.  The number, type and duration of symptoms vary widely for each person. In comparison to older athletes, symptoms are intensified and recovery is prolonged for youth.

Without proper identification, multiple concussions can lead to chronic diseases.

In April of 2010, Owen Thomas, a 21-year-old lineman for the University of Pennsylvania who began playing football at age nine, committed suicide. Owen’s autopsy revealed early stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease linked to depression and impulse control prevalent in National Football League (NFL) players who have also committed suicide over the last 10 years. Owen was never diagnosed with concussion, but the only cause of CTE is repetitive brain injury. Owen’s family was unaware of the dangers of concussion.  
 
“Owen was the funniest, most dynamic person you could ever want to meet. If he had not developed CTE, he would have grown up to be a wonderful contributing citizen,” said Rev. Katherine Brearley, Ph.D., Owen Thomas’ mother. “In speaking out about Owen’s brain disease, it is my hope that parents and coaches will unite to improve the safety of younger players, so football can continue to be a powerful and exciting sport that unites families and communities all across the United States.”

Research shows that youth athletes can fully recover within seven days, but overexertion from physical and cognitive activities exacerbates symptoms and protracts recovery time. Studies estimate that over 40 percent of high school athletes return to play too soon. The “when in doubt, sit it out” philosophy helps prevent further injury by asking players who may have suffered concussions to sit out.    
 
“Playing through a concussion is no longer a badge of honor, it’s reckless,” said Sean Morey, former NFL athlete and executive board member with the NFL Players Association. “Reporting our concussion is not a sign of weakness, it’s a responsibility we share to advocate for our own health and safety.”
 
In addition to recent state action, nationwide organizations are ramping up efforts to improve concussion safety. The NFL has taken steps to reduce the risk of concussions on the professional level and in youth sports.  
 
“The ‘Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act’ is a significant step forward in the campaign to protect our kids,” Stanley Herring, M.D., chairman of the Subcommittee on Education and Advocacy of the Head, Neck and Spine Committee of the NFL, and Team Physician for the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners. “As more has become known about the dangers of head injuries, the NFL has become the leader on concussions not just for the safety of its own players, but for all athletes at all levels of football as well as all other sports.  I see them every day – boys and girls, soccer, basketball and lacrosse players – young athletes who have endured concussions.  Those children can recover and play again if they receive proper treatment.”

For more information on the bill, click here.

“Concussions are an unfortunate reality of competitive athletics,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY). “But raising awareness of concussions among student athletes, coaches and teachers will make sports safer and improve classroom performance.”
 
High school athletes are more prone to sport-related concussions than their collegiate or professional counterparts. Surveys suggest that the prevalence of sports related concussions is much higher than reported and occurrence is highest at the high school level.
 
Witnesses discussed the need for comprehensive standards among all schools to ensure student health and protection.
 
“It is absolutely essential that there be a comprehensive concussion program established in all high schools, as well as youth sports,” said Dr. Hayley Queller, a primary care sports medicine physician. “Without such a program, we are putting our youth at risk of experiencing long-lasting emotional, physiological and academic deficits. To ensure that such programs are created, the first step is community-wide education. Injury prevention, early identification and appropriate management are the principal components to ensure the safe return of our high school athletes back to their sports activities.”
 
Studies estimate that over 40 percent of high school athletes return to play too soon.
 
“As an athletic trainer, it is my obligation to pay attention to every play of every game so I may be able to see an injury happen and know the severity,” said Craig LoNigro, the athletic trainer at Comsewogue High School. “It is my job to convince the athlete, his/her parents and the coaching staff that if action is not taken quickly, we could be dealing with a much bigger issue than losing a game.”
 
According to recent research, 400,000 concussions occurred in high school athletics in the 2008-2009 school year. Concussions account for ten percent of all injuries sustained by high school athletes, 60 percent of which occur in football. While the incident rate is highest among high school football players, girls seem more susceptible to concussions, according to the Journal of Athletic Training.
 
“I believe we need to do a better job advocating for the athlete and it starts with educating every party involved – parents, coaches, athletic trainers, teachers, school nurses and the athletes themselves,” said Caitlin Monaghan, a former high school student athlete from Garden City, New York, who suffered several concussions while playing for her high school’s soccer and basketball teams. “The symptoms, dangers and steps to take when a concussion occurs need to be clearly outlined including regulations concerning return to play.”
 
Witnesses also discussed concussion management among professional athletes. The National Football League (NFL) has recently taken steps to reduce the risk of concussions both in the professional league as well as in youth sports. 
 
“Participation in athletics teaches our children essential life lessons,” said Rich Caster, former football player for the New York Jets. “As we learn more about the dangers of head injuries, the NFL has chosen to become the leader on concussions not just for the safety of its own players, but for all athletes at all levels of football as well as other sports.”

In high school, communities have taken unique approaches to improve concussion management for their youth, including basic steps such as educating the students, parents and school personnel about concussions, removing the student from play when a concussion is suspected and providing students recovering from concussions an individualized plan for returning to school activities.

As part of their campaign, the NFL has started putting posters with information about concussion symptoms in every locker room. Witnesses testified that similar practices in schools would help spur education and communication, and support youth athletes.
 
“Football is truly an amazing sport,” said Courtney Hall, former football player for the San Diego Chargers.” But no sport should unduly endanger the lives of its participants. With more research into ways to protect players, all of us – players, coaches and fans – can continue to enjoy this game for years to come.”

More information, including witness testimony, on this hearing

"By withholding $1.2 billion in education funding, the governor is depriving California students, teachers and aides of critical resources just as they're returning to the classroom. California's struggling economy needs this money to ensure that our children don't become victims of Wall Street's scandals, and to continue the education reform efforts of President Obama and Secretary Duncan. The Schwarzenegger administration is proving to be an unreliable partner in our efforts to reform California schools. The governor is playing politics with California schools, putting 16,500 teacher jobs at risk and jeopardizing the future of millions of students. I urge him to sign this legislation, which will distribute the badly needed funding."

Miller has been a staunch advocate for education funding for America's schools. He initially proposed a $23 billion dollar emergency “Education Jobs Fund” in late 2009. Twice, the House passed funding to support teacher jobs, but Senate Republicans blocked the legislation from moving forward. Miller also authored the Local Jobs for America Act, introduced in March, which would help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities.

“As soon as today, California will have access to more than $1.2 billion dollars in emergency aid to help save education jobs – keeping our teachers in their classrooms and our students learning. This is great news for California’s struggling economy, and it’s a critical win for California’s families, teachers and students. This investment ensures California’s students do not become victims of this economy.

“Congress took decisive action earlier this month by returning to Washington for this important vote; prioritizing our teachers and recognizing the urgent needs of our students. Our schools have made real progress under President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan’s leadership, progress that we cannot afford to lose in the wake of this economic crisis.

“This is a significant step forward for our economic recovery, one of many this Congress will take to continue our reform efforts for our children and the future of this country.”

Pelosi and Miller have fought for almost a year for additional emergency aid to keep teachers in the classroom.  Twice, the House passed funding to support teacher jobs, but Senate Republicans blocked the legislation from moving forward. Miller initially proposed a $23 billion dollar emergency “Education Jobs Fund” in late 2009.

Miller also authored the Local Jobs for America Act, introduced in March, which would help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities. For more information about Miller’s work on jobs, click here.

“With our economic recovery and global competitiveness at stake, our children need a strong education foundation to be able to grow, thrive and succeed. The Race to the Top competition reignited a much-needed conversation in this country about the need for real education reform. The states who won deserve credit for their determination and commitment to our students, teachers and schools.  They have shown a willingness to think beyond traditional school reform. The other states which competed for these funds also showed the value they place on moving education reform forward in our country.

“While I am disappointed that California was not among the winners of Race to the Top, this competition has demonstrated there is a desire to leverage real change in school districts throughout California --  to end the status quo for our students and encourage innovation at the local level. I applaud the leaders and teachers in the districts that developed California’s Race to the Top application. These districts represent the future of our public education system in California and deserve recognition for everything they are doing to transform our schools and ensure our students are able to compete in a global economy.”

For more information about Race to the Top, click here.

###

“Failing schools affect not only students and teachers, but entire communities. Turning around low achieving and persistently failing schools requires critical attention, resources, flexibility and planning for success – and keeping a close eye on the needs of the students and the community. In recent hearings, we’ve heard from expert witnesses and high quality providers with the skills and expertise to help turn around schools.

"However, with increased focus on school reform under this administration, it seems some companies with little or no expertise in education are purporting to be experts in school turnaround to try and take advantage of available federal money. Companies who are hired to help turn around schools as partners should have the best expertise and the best qualifications. I plan to hold a hearing and use the committee’s oversight authority to investigate the process of hiring providers to help turn around schools.”

The Education and Labor Committee has held several hearings looking at best practices for turning around low performing schools.

More information about school turnaround hearings

“These resources are vital to addressing the funding crisis we’re seeing in California schools and in schools across the nation. This funding helps ensure that California teachers are in the classroom where they belong, not on the unemployment line. A child only has one chance at an education, and continued Recovery Act funding ensures that their educations aren’t jeopardized by overcrowded classrooms.”

This funding comes on the heels of recent action by Congress to save jobs through the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.  This bill, signed into law by President Obama last week, will provide $10 billion to save and create teacher jobs, which will translate into 16,500 California teacher jobs. California was the first state to submit its application to the Department of Education for this critical funding.

Chairman Miller has been a key advocate in the House for additional aid to keep teachers in the classroom. He proposed a $23 billion dollar emergency “Education Jobs Fund” in late 2009 and authored the Local Jobs for America Act, which would help save local communities from devastating public sector layoffs.

More information on the Recovery Act
More information on Chairman Miller’s efforts to save teacher jobs

“It was the right decision to come back to Washington to take this important vote,” Miller added. “It’s not the first time this Congress has voted to support jobs, teachers and the future of this country. And we are not done working to rescue this economy.  Sadly, it is also not the first time Republicans have voted against jobs and against assistance for families across the country.”

The legislation includes $10 billion to save teacher jobs and $16.1 billion in health assistance to the states. The funding will also keep police officers and firefighters on the job, at no cost to taxpayers.

According to estimates from the Department of Education, the $10 billion in education funding will save 161,000 teacher jobs. And the Economic Policy Institute estimates the Medicaid funds will save and create 158,000 jobs, including preventing the layoff of police officers and firefighters.  More than half of these jobs will be in the private sector, including workers who contract for or supply services to state and local governments.  

Under the bill, California will receive an estimated $1.8 billion in Medi-Cal assistance and $1.2 billion in emergency education funding.  It is estimated that 16,500 California teacher jobs would be saved by this funding, including an estimated 249 education jobs in Miller’s 7th Congressional District, which includes portions of Solano and Contra Costa counties.

Miller said that he has indicated to the Department of Education that the education funds should be sent out to the states and distributed to local communities as quickly as possible.

The bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  The bill includes costs of $26.1 billion and offsets of $27.5 billion – including $17.7 billion in spending cuts and $9.8 billion by closing tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship American jobs overseas.  

The legislation uses the same formula to distribute the education funds to states as was used in the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund under the Recovery Act .  The formula allocates funds based on each state’s relative population of individuals ages 5 to 24 and of each state’s share of the total population. Governors will distribute funds to districts using the state’s primary funding formulae for K-12 education or each district’s share of Title I.   Once the bill is enacted, Governors will be required to tell local school districts which formula they plan to use to allocate the funds to ensure districts can plan immediately to hire back staff.

Miller has been fighting for almost a year for additional emergency aid to keep teachers in the classroom.  He initially proposed a $23 billion dollar emergency “Education Jobs Fund” in late 2009. Twice, the House passed funding to support teacher jobs, but Senate Republicans blocked the legislation from moving forward. Miller also authored the Local Jobs for America Act, introduced in March, which would help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities.

More information about the work Miller has done to save jobs

More information about the bill

“Our children need healthy meals to be able to grow, thrive and succeed in school and in life. Today, the Senate took an important step forward by passing their bipartisan legislation. I applaud Senator Lincoln and Senator Chambliss for their leadership to help get America’s families and children back on the road to healthy eating and healthier living. By changing the way our children eat in school, after school, in child care and community-based settings, we can make a real difference for our children and for our future.”

The Education and Labor Committee has held several hearings on child nutrition. In June, Miller introduced the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act, bipartisan legislation that would dramatically improve the federal child nutrition programs. The Education and Labor Committee passed the legislation in July.

“I applaud the Senate for passing this emergency legislation that protects not only our teacher jobs but our economic competitiveness. Next week, my colleagues and I in the House will return to Washington to take this important vote -- a vote we’ve taken twice already in the House -- to keep thousands of teachers in their jobs. We need this bill to ensure our teachers remain in the classroom and our students continue to learn. It’s clear our students, our teachers and our country will reap the benefits of our decisive action. This investment will save jobs and help prevent districts from shortening the school year, increasing class sizes and closing libraries in the wake of horrific and damaging budget cuts. While this latest round of funding isn’t enough to avert all layoffs, it is a critical investment in our children and in our future.”

Miller has helped lead the charge in the House to protect teacher jobs. He introduced the Local Jobs for America Act in March to help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities. The provision in the bill to support education jobs was initially included in the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010, which passed the House in December 2009.

More information about Miller’s work to save and protect jobs

“I look forward to returning to Washington next week to ensure our teachers, principals, librarians, guidance counselors and countless other school professionals keep their jobs and our students are able to grow, thrive and succeed. While this won't avert all teacher layoffs, it is a critical lifeline for education professionals across the country.”
 
The legislation would provide $10 billion to help local school districts save or hire teachers and other education professionals. Funds would be distributed through the state’s primary elementary and secondary funding formulae or each school district’s relative share of Title I. In Contra Costa and Solano counties in Miller’s district in California, nearly 600 school professionals have been laid off.

The legislation would also provide $16 billion in additional funding to states through the FMAP program. 

Miller introduced the Local Jobs for America Act in March to help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities. The provision in the bill to support education jobs was initially included in the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010, which passed the House in December 2009. For more information about Miller’s work to save and protect jobs, click here.

###

“If we allow our children’s health to suffer, if we allow more children to go hungry by not taking swift action with this legislation, we fail our children, their families and the future of this country,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and original co-sponsor of this legislation. “This legislation gives us a real opportunity to make dramatic reforms to help prevent hunger, to improve children’s health and increase access to healthy meals. The health and academic success of an entire generation of children is at stake.”

“Given the serious fiscal challenges facing our country, we must ensure that we devote our limited resources to our nation's most urgent priorities,” said Congressman Todd Platts (R-PA), original co-sponsor of the legislation. “Providing nutritious meals and improving health standards for our nation's children, especially those most in need, are such priorities. I am pleased to be working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this important legislation forward.”

“I am pleased that this legislation calls for common sense action, to protect the health of our children. This bill addresses the need to work with children of all ages, from infants to high school age, to help them form healthy habits” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), chair of the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities and original co-sponsor of the legislation. “From provisions to encourage mothers to breast feed to infants, to addressing the need to begin working with preschoolers on forming healthy habits and promoting physical activity and quality recess time, this legislation takes a comprehensive approach to improving the health of our children. Simply, this bill emphasizes healthy food and healthy habits, which will make healthy children.”

In addition to other amendments offered by committee Members, the committee voted on a managers amendment, offered by Miller, that would bolster the legislation and help achieve President Obama’s goal of enhancing and improving the federal child nutrition programs. The amendment would expand the national afterschool meals program so more children in afterschool programs can have an additional snack or meal. Among other provisions, it would improve nutrition education and make further enhancements to food safety and food quality.

The managers amendment also strengthens the science-based foundation that ensures the WIC program best meets the nutrition needs of participants by enhancing the Secretary of Agriculture’s existing authority to conduct scientific reviews and ensures that the review considers the modern food environment, including innovations in the marketplace that may enhance WIC foods to better meet nutritional needs.

More information about the bill and amendments offered during the hearing

July 13, 2010

The Honorable Barack Obama
President
United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We write to you today regarding the pending reauthorization process for Federal child nutrition programs that we are currently leading in Congress. The support you have provided along with the First Lady’s passion on this issue has been greatly appreciated. As our process moves forward, it is important to highlight the path ahead and the additional steps that must be taken to ensure a successful legislative outcome. To that end, we respectfully request your assistance in ensuring that a strong reauthorization is delivered to your desk for signature before the programs expire on September 30.

As you know, child nutrition programs were extended for one year last fall. Prior to, and since that time, our respective Committees have worked closely together and with your Administration in order to develop reauthorization legislation that mirrors many of your recommendations to address two of the greatest threats to the health and security of America’s children: hunger and obesity. This year represents our best opportunity to see those efforts enacted into law.

Additionally, since last fall both chambers have been actively engaged in a bipartisan fashion to move forward legislation and maintain political momentum for the reauthorization process. In the House of Representatives, a bipartisan majority of 221 members of Congress sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi in strong support of reauthorizing child nutrition programs this year. In the Senate, a bipartisan majority of 53 senators sent a letter to Senate leadership urging swift passage of the child nutrition bill that was unanimously approved by the Agriculture Committee at the end of March.

Despite strong support and the popularity of child nutrition programs, our respective chambers continue to face challenges to enacting reauthorization legislation, the biggest of which is time. There are precious few legislative work weeks available between now and September 30th. Given these circumstances, your assistance in making this legislation a top priority for your Administration and communicating that priority to the leadership in the House and Senate is absolutely critical to ensuring that both chambers are able to send you a full reauthorization this year.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who has been a forceful advocate for child nutrition within the Administration, put it best when he recently testified before Congress. “The bottom line from my perspective is that I can’t think of anything more important than getting [child nutrition] done this year…If we don’t do this this year, this is not going to get any easier. It’s going to get much, much tougher in the future.” We could not agree with Secretary Vilsack more, and Congress and the Administration must work collectively in order to pass the best bill possible and avoid another extension of current law.

Given the difficult political environment and partisanship within Congress today, child nutrition reauthorization represents one of our best opportunities to enact legislation that enjoys broad bipartisan support. Our children, and their families, deserve nothing less than our strongest leadership to see that bipartisanship passed into law. Through our combined efforts and with a strong push from you, we can maximize the likelihood of Congress passing, and you signing into law, this critically-needed legislation before the programs expire.

Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on this important priority.


Sincerely,

Blanche Lincoln

George Miller

The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children bill will significantly expand access for millions of children to healthy meals year-round in schools, child care and community based settings. The bill would, for the first time, establish nutrition standards for foods sold outside of the cafeteria such as vending machines.

"This status quo increases our nation's health care bill, it affects our ability to recruit a for the military, and most importantly it will not let us produce the generation of well-educated, healthy kids who will be competitive in the global economy of the 21st century,” said U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “For all of these reasons, we must take steps to streamline access, improve the quality of school meals, increase participation, and work to eliminate childhood hunger in this country.”

In 2008, 16.7 million children lived in food insecure households; over 22 percent of the nation’s children. Children that lack access to enough quality food are at increased risk for poor health, including infections from poor immune systems, poor oral health, and to be hospitalized for a condition that could have been prevented.   Additionally, children that lack access to enough quality food when they enter school are at a disadvantage to their peers and struggle to keep pace.  

Witnesses testified that the investments in the legislation will help children to achieve and succeed.

“There can be no better investment – no better stimulus to our economy – than feeding this nation’s children healthily and well. If we give the kids in this country delicious and nutritious food, we will instill in them a lifetime preference for healthy eating that will translate into vast savings in health care costs down the line,” said Tom Colicchio, chef and restaurateur. “Providing the building blocks for millions of kids to grow and develop as they should, will mean a population of robust and productive adults, and a more competitive America.”

According to a report developed by Mission: Readiness, during World War II, the military found that approximately 40 percent of rejected recruits were turned away for health reasons related to not having enough food and being underweight.  Now, being overweight is the leading medical reasons for rejecting a recruit.  

The Army estimates that over 27 percent of all Americans 17 to 24 years of age – over nine million men and women – are too heavy to join the military.  

“The grim reality is that we live in a dangerous world. As long as outside threats to our national security exist, we are well-served to maintain a high level of military readiness,” Major General Paul D. Monroe, U.S. Army (Ret.), Executive Advisory Council, Mission: Readiness. “[Enacting the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act] will help improve the health of our nation’s children and, ultimately, strengthen national security.”

The threats of unhealthy children also have a significant economic impact. There is a strong link between adult obesity rates and socioeconomic status.  Nine of the 10 states with the highest childhood obesity rates are in the South, correlating with the highest child poverty rates. The American Public Health Association estimates that at current obesity rates, obesity will add nearly $344 billion to the nation’s annual health care costs by 2018 and account for more than 21 percent of health care spending.

Higher rates of obesity translate into higher rates of obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.  The early development of health problems associated with obesity shortens the lifespan of affected children later in life, and it is associated with a lower lifetime earning potential.

“The health of America’s children depends on a prescription for healthy food and more physical activity,” said Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. “This bill can play a significant role in improving the health of America’s children, reversing the childhood obesity epidemic, reducing the burden of diabetes, heart and other chronic diseases and demand for expensive medical care, and finally, improving the readiness, willingness, and ability of our future civilian and military workforce – to compete and defend our nation.”

Jim Weill, President of the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) testified that his organization had analyzed a Gallup poll showing that in 2009, nearly a quarter of all households with children in this country reported “there have been times in the last twelve months when they did not have enough money to buy food that they or their family needed.”

“Moving forward on a reauthorization bill that provides critical support for low-income children can’t wait,” said Weill. “This will ensure significant movement towards the goals we all have of ending child hunger and dramatically reducing childhood obesity.”

More information on the bill

View witness testimony

“With tonight’s vote, the House acted on behalf of American workers, teachers and students across the nation who have suffered in the recent economic downturn.

“The bill helps to close a multi-billion dollar shortfall in the Pell Grant program that could have deterred many low-income students from attending college, and allocates $10 billion in emergency spending to save hundreds of thousands of teachers from losing their jobs due to local budget shortfalls. This vote will ensure our teachers remain in the classrooms and our students don’t lose a year of learning.  We will not allow our children’s education to become a casualty of the state of the economy.

“Additionally, tonight’s vote represents a significant victory for America’s workers by providing additional funding for mine safety enforcement cases to help workers safe, and provides our communities’ first responders basic collective bargaining rights so they can keep our communities safe and strong.

“These are responsible, targeted investments that will create and secure jobs, and keep our promise to our nation’s children.

More information on provisions of H.R. 4899:

•    Education Jobs: The 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act creates a $10 billion Education Jobs fund to provide emergency support to school districts to prevent layoffs and keep 140,000 school employees on the job next year. The Department of Education will administer the fund and distribute the money to states through a formula based on total population and school age population. States will distribute the funds to school districts through their primary funding formula or through the Title I formula. The bill includes strict provisions that requires states to use this funding only to preserve, rehire or hire new employees in elementary and secondary education. The money can’t be used to supplant state education spending.

•    Pell Grants: The 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act invests $4.95 billion, fully offset, to address the current year shortfall in the Pell Grant Program. In the last academic year, more than 8 million students received Pell grants.

•    Miner Safety and Review Commission Backlog: The 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act would provide a $22 million down payment to reduce the backlog of mine safety enforcement cases and to ensure that there are sufficient resources for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to meet all of its legally mandated mine inspection requirements. In February, the committee found that a flood of mine owner appeals is undermining efforts to protect miners by delaying tougher sanctions. A dangerous mine cannot face tougher penalties or increased scrutiny by MSHA unless citations are fully adjudicated. Because of this backlog of appeals, cases now take several months or years to be resolved.

•    Public Safety Personnel Collective Bargaining: It will guarantee collective bargaining rights for first responders employed by states and localities. States would administer and enforce their own labor laws, while the Federal Labor Relations Authority would only step in where such laws do not exist or do not meet minimum standards. The language prohibits public safety officers from engaging in a lockout, sickout, work slowdown, strike, or any other organized job action that will disrupt the delivery of emergency services.

 “The fact that our American Indian and Alaska Native students have not made any progress since 2005 is alarming and cause for major concern,” said Chairman Miller.  “This report offers further proof that we need to focus significantly more attention on our American Indian and Alaska Native students in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.”

 “I am extremely disappointed that this NAEP report shows little to no improvement in reading and math achievement among American Indian and Alaska Native students. These results are unacceptable and further underscore the vital need to improve education in these communities. Thankfully, Congress has an important opportunity to address this issue with the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). I look forward to continuing to work with Chairman Miller, my other colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee, as well as Native American leaders and organizations to ensure that this reauthorization includes strong provisions to improve education for our American Indian and Alaska Native students,” said Congressman Kildee.

“In mines around the country and in other workplaces as well, worker safety has not been a priority.  Bad actors have put profits ahead of people.  As a consequence, workers have lost vital protections, suffered significant injuries and, in too many cases, lost their lives,” said Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.  “We are determined to put sharper teeth in our workplace safety laws and to step up federal enforcement.  We look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle to find bipartisan solutions for workers.  These policy ideals start that dialogue.”

“The Upper Big Branch tragedy highlighted significant problems in our nation’s miner safety laws and need substantial reform. Mine operators who callously and repeatedly put their workers in danger must be held accountable,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “It is clear that current law does not provide sufficient protections to miners who go underground every day. Today, we take the first step to ensure that the health and safety of workers are put ahead of production and profit.”

The House Education and Labor Committee, joined by Sen. Jay Rockefeller and the West Virginia congressional delegation, heard testimony in Beckley, West Virginia from miners and families of those who died in the Upper Big Branch Mine about serious shortcomings in miner protections, including threats and intimidation of miners who brought up safety concerns to their bosses.

“Too much hurt and tragedy has touched the lives and families of hard-working coal miners in West Virginia – we must pass laws that put a higher priority on safety day in and day out. In the aftermath of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, Senator Byrd and I worked together to develop new legislative actions to safeguard our miners and that effect will go on,” said Senator Rockefeller (D-WV). “Even as the investigation of the Upper Big Branch mine continues, we know there are problems we can solve today – and we have an obligation to do just that.  We must tackle the repeat ‘pattern of violations’ in our mines, give MSHA the authority it needs to implement reforms, and further empower our miners with the protections they deserve to speak out when they see a safety problem.”

“This legislation has been crafted, in large measure, to target and rein in the worst of the worst mine safety violators, while also providing for independent investigations of MSHA," said Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV), who represents the District where Massey's Upper Big Branch Mine is located. "I fully intend to keep working with miners, their families, and coal industry members to fine tune this bill to ensure that coal miners have safer, healthier workplaces while they continue their vital work providing for America's energy needs."      

Members of the House and Senate worked closely with the Department of Labor to ensure that the reforms outlined contained all the tools the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says it needs to provide sufficient protections to miners and save lives.

“We have seen too many accidents over the last few months in workplaces across the country,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA).  “Between recent mine disasters and similar tragedies in other industries, it has become clear that Congress needs to act to strengthen protections provided by both MSHA and OSHA.  Some of the country’s workplace fatalities receive national attention – like the explosions at the Tesoro refinery in Washington or Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia – but the vast majority get little attention beyond the affected family and friends. Workers everywhere and in every industry deserve to be able to feel confident that while they are working hard and doing their jobs, their employers are doing everything possible to keep them safe.”

“In addition to strengthening enforcement provisions, this bill also has strong safeguards to protect workers, including improved whistleblower provisions and penalties for those employers who violate a miner’s right against retaliation,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chair of the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee. “In this tragic year for miners and other workers, the need for such reforms could not be more urgent. This bill will save lives.”

Among other provisions, the reforms outlined include:

•    Making Mines with Serious and Repeated Violations Safe – Criteria for ‘pattern of violations’ sanctions would be revamped to ensure that the nation’s most dangerous mine operations improve safety dramatically.
•    Ensuring Irresponsible Operators are Held Accountable – Maximum criminal and civil penalties would be increased and operators would be required to pay penalties in a timely manner.  
•    Giving MSHA Better Enforcement Tools – MSHA would be given the authority to subpoena documents and testimony. The agency could seek a court order to close a mine when there is a continuing threat to the health and safety of miners. MSHA could require more training of miners in unsafe mines. Increased rock dusting would be required to prevent coal dust explosions.  
•    Protecting Miners Who Speak out on Unsafe Conditions – Miners would be granted the right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions. Protections for workers who speak out about unsafe conditions would be strengthened, and miners would not lose pay for safety-related closures. In addition, miners would receive protections so they can speak freely during investigations.  
•    Increasing MSHA’s Accountability – The legislative outline provides for an independent investigation of the most serious accidents.  It would require that mine personnel are well-qualified, and ensure that inspections are comprehensive and well-targeted. Additionally, it requires pre-shift reviews of mine conditions and communication to ensure that appropriate safety information is transmitted.  
•    Guaranteeing Basic Protections in All Other Workplaces – To ensure that all  workplaces have basic protections, whistleblower protections would be strengthened, criminal and civil penalties would be increased, and hazard abatement would be sped up. In addition, victims of accidents and their family members would be provided greater rights during investigations and enforcement actions.

More information on these reforms

“Turning around our lowest-performing schools is crucial for our economy, our communities and our students,” Miller said. “Improving our schools in these tough economic times will help put students in Contra Costa County, Solano County and across the state back on a pathway to success.”

Today U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that California will receive nearly $416 million to turn around its persistently lowest achieving schools through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program. These funds are part of the $3.5 billion that will be made available to states this spring from money set aside in the 2009 budget and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The new funds for California schools are being distributed by formula to the state and will then be competed out by the state to school districts. In order for a school district to apply for these funds, it must have a state-identified "persistently lowest achieving" or a Tier III school.  Tier III schools are those that have failed to meet Annual Yearly Progress for two years but are not identified as persistently lowest achieving.

In Miller’s district, a number of school districts are eligible to apply for the new grant money:  John Swett Unified, Martinez Unified, Mount Diablo Unified, Pittsburgh Unified and West Contra Costa County in Contra Costa County, and Benicia Unified, Fairfield-Suisun Unified, Vacaville Unified, Travis Unified, and Vallejo Unified in Solano County.

Miller pointed out that this is just one more way in which the Recovery Act is helping local schools in his community and across the state. Last year,  the Recovery Act helped save tens of thousands of teacher jobs across the state, for example, and invested billions of dollars to help implement school data systems to track student progress.  

More information about SIG Grants

“All students, including students with disabilities, should be able to reap the benefits of physical activity and team sports in school and in life,” said Miller. “It is clear from this report that we need to work harder to remove the obstacles students with disabilities face in physical education and athletics.”

“While many schools have made great strides educating students with disabilities in mainstream academic classrooms, sports programs and physical education classes are the final frontier for full inclusion in schools,” said McCarthy. “The benefit of increased physical activity of all people, including those with disabilities, is well established, but understanding the barriers to participation specific to students with disabilities is critical to crafting appropriate responses. The GAO report is a step toward understanding and addressing these barriers. I look forward to working with Chairman Miller, the Department of Education, and interested students, parents, and groups to respond to the concerns raised and recommendations provided in the GAO report.”

“I thank the GAO for conducting this study. As we see from their conclusions, while many schools make good faith efforts to include students with disabilities, we can do more to provide guidance on best practices and the requirements of the federal law. I look forward to working with the Department of Education to disseminate this information on the local level,” said Van Hollen.
 
“The health and social benefits of physical activity and athletic participation are well established.  These benefits may be even more important for students with disabilities, who are at a greater risk for being sedentary and developing secondary conditions.  Students with disabilities should have an equal opportunity to participate in PE and in extracurricular athletics or adaptive sports if they so desire, and we need to do all we can to encourage such participation.” said Harkin.

GAO visited five states, California, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey, and conducted phone interviews with officials from Georgia and Texas, to determine students with disabilities’ participation in physical education and athletics.  They found students with disabilities “generally attend PE class about the same amount of time as students without disabilities” but that a challenge to note was the lack of “sufficient training or experience for PE or classroom teachers.”

In all the states GAO spoke with, school officials said every student, including those with disabilities, are permitted to try out for interscholastic athletic teams. In some instances, schools provide accommodations depending on the students’ disabilities.

In New Jersey, for example, a high school provided an interpreter for a deaf student playing baseball. In California, a school adapted rules for students on the wrestling team who were deaf and blind.

While some schools took steps to provide extracurricular athletic opportunities to students with disabilities, on the whole, GAO reported that school districts cited budget constraints and a general lack of clarity regarding their schools’ responsibility to students with disabilities as barriers to participation.

In response to the report, lawmakers wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking him to heed the recommendations in the GAO report to “clarify and communicate schools’ responsibilities”  in providing opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in extracurricular sports.  They also asked the Department of Education to issue guidance on the best ways to better provide extracurricular athletic opportunities to students with disabilities

View the full report

U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and a lead advocate in Congress for education jobs, released the following statement.

“The financial industry collapse has trickled down to local communities in the form of decreased revenues, lost property taxes and, ultimately, harmful budget cuts to school districts across the country. Without immediate action, our students and teachers stand to suffer the consequences of a system breakdown in which they played no part. If we balk now and let our students lose a year of learning in our schools because of the of financial scandals, it will be a scandal on the Congress.”

“These budget cuts would punish teachers, devastate communities and set back the significant progress students have made since the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Keeping teachers in classrooms and educators in schools is part of a larger strategy of getting Americans back to work. By investing this emergency money to save jobs, we prevent further turmoil by keeping unemployment and COBRA costs from spiraling out of control and creating more burden on local communities.”

View the state by state estimates

View the White House fact sheet, “Keep Our Teachers Working”

“Providing all our children with a world-class education is critical to a sustainable economic recovery. Sadly, budget cuts across the country have threatened the jobs of hundreds of thousands of our teachers, guidance counselors, principals, cafeteria workers, librarians and more. These job losses are devastating for students and our communities. We can’t allow a child’s education to become a casualty of what is happening in our economy.

“I want to commend Chairman Obey for his vision and unwavering commitment to America’s students, teachers and families. Chairman Obey knows that with serious investments in education jobs, we can stave off a crisis in our nation’s schools by keeping teachers in the classrooms helping our children learn.

“This emergency spending will also build on our recent investments in the Pell Grant scholarship so every eligible student can continue to have access to an affordable college education. These investments place the scholarship on solid ground by paying for the accumulated shortfall, fulfilling our promise to students and families who rely on the scholarship by ensuring they will continue to receive benefits. We have a critical opportunity to make a real difference in the future of this country.”

Chairman Miller introduced the Local Jobs for America Act in March to help create and save public and private sector jobs and restore vital services in local communities.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, conducted at the behest of U.S. Rep. George Miller, chair of the Committee, and other bipartisan lawmakers, found that concussions in high school athletes are widely unreported and underappreciated.

Dr. Linda Kohn, Director of Health Care Issues at GAO testified that the available data “may be underestimates of the overall national occurrence of concussion in high school sports.”

“It is clear we need to put more focus on the ‘student’ part of the student athlete. The pressure to play is overriding medical concerns and students’ academic achievement,” said Miller. “A concussion doesn’t have to mean the end of a student’s athletic career, but without the appropriate management and treatment, it could have serious implications.  We need to do more to increase awareness for parents, teachers, coaches and students on the effect of concussions – to ensure success both in the classroom and on the field.”

Concussions account for 10 percent of all injuries sustained by high school athletes. Studies show girls are more susceptible to concussions. Incidence rates in girls’ soccer ranks second only to football. In basketball, girls appear to sustain concussions at three times the rate of male basketball players.

Witnesses testified about the effect concussions have on student achievement.

“There are significant threats to the child and adolescent as a result of an injury to the developing brain from concussion. The effects of a concussion are quite significant and potentially wide ranging, with an adverse impact on the student-athlete’s ability to think and learn and his or her social and emotional functioning,” said Dr. Gerard A. Gioia, Chief  of the Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology at the Children’s National Medical Center.

Gioia also reported that in a recent study, over 80 percent of  students who had suffered concussions reported  “a significant worsening of symptoms over the first four weeks as they attempted school learning activities.”

Michelle Pelton, a former student athlete from Fall River, Massachusetts, suffers from the cumulative effects of the concussions she sustained during her adolescence, five of which occurred while participating in softball and basketball at her school. Pelton retired from sports and sought treatment. She graduated from high school but lost a college scholarship.

“I cannot even begin to explain the daily struggle my life has become and everything I have lost because of my concussions. No one can see my injury but it’s there. I know I have learned to overcome and compensated for my injuries because I am so determined to keep as many of my dreams in my life as possible, but not without a tremendous price,” said Pelton. “Every day I endure memory loss, lack of concentration, depression, slow processing speed and cognitive effects that makes my everyday life a battle.”

Michael Monacelli, Director of Athletics at Caledonia-Mumford Central School in Caledonia, New York, implemented a successful concussion management program to help reduce injury risks after learning of the implications of concussions on student learning.

“We are in a comfort zone with concussion management in our district. We have full confidence in the system. Most assuredly as coaches, we do not want to see these injuries,” said Monacelli. “But we know that now the concussed student can be properly diagnosed and managed. The student-athlete will get better and will play again.”

Only four states, Washington, Oregon, Texas and Virginia, have laws or regulations regarding concussion management in high schools. U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced the Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act (H.R. 1347) to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish management guidelines for student athletes.

View witness testimony

Research outlined by witnesses shows that successful school turnaround must include flexibility, shared leadership, professional development, capacity building, extended school and learning time, community involvement and beyond.

The hearing was part of a series the committee is holding as it works in a bipartisan, open and transparent way to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In the hearing, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee, announced that he will include a new plan for school turnaround success as part of the ESEA legislation, focusing on the elements discussed in the hearing.

“Fixing our lowest performing schools requires flexibility, collaboration, and support at every step along the way,” said Miller. “It means proving, planning and preparing for real success in our schools. If the important elements aren’t in place, if communities aren’t on board, if teachers aren’t included, none of this will happen and our nation will suffer the consequences. In this reauthorization, we will focus on the research-based, proven, core elements of successful turnaround identified today by our witnesses. When coupled with a strong use of data and a rigorous planning process, we can help provide local communities the flexibility to succeed.”

Turning around chronically failing schools can have significant impact on local communities, both in improving academic achievement and economically.

“We have created a new model for turning around schools. In three years, eight schools in which our model was applied turned around their reading test scores and school culture. The taxpayers saved $24 million compared to other turnaround models,” said John Simmons, president of Strategic Learning Initiatives. “The reauthorization of ESEA should allow for a strategy like ours that emphasizes the importance of comprehensive school reform strategies that are grounded in rigorous research and shown to work, using existing staff.”

Think College Now, a public college-prep elementary school in a low-income area of Oakland, California, employs research-based models to help students succeed and to close the achievement gap. Before the school opened, only eight percent of students were considered proficient or advanced in English Language Arts and only 23 percent in math.

“Our entire community -- from teachers to staff to families to students – is united and working toward the same big goal – to go to college,” said David Silver, Principal and Founder of Think College Now Elementary. “If you ask any one of those people at TCN, why are you are here, the answer would be the same: ‘to go to college.’”

In Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, school officials used innovative reforms like a dual credit high school and early college high school to reduce dropouts by 75 percent in one school and to transform another school from one of the worst in the state to 11th in the country.

Witnesses noted that while research outlines best practices, ultimately flexibility and a comprehensive approach are paramount to successful school turnaround.

“There are elements in the research and our experience that tell us that efforts to improve poor performance work best when we work intensively with school leaders and teachers from a sense of shared accountability rather than demanding accountability on a narrow range of behaviors,” said Jessica Johnson, Chief Program Officer at Learning Point Associates. “We also know that meaningful change is more often sustained when a more comprehensive approach is taken and community and parents as well as educators are involved in the solution. The flexibility to orchestrate these variables is critical to success.”

View witness testimony

“It is clear from this report that when we invest in education jobs, we can make a difference in local communities and help restart local economies. This is what we need to keep our workforce competitive and regain our footing as a leader in the global marketplace.    

“Sadly, the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and school staff are still at risk, which would be devastating for our students and our nation’s economic future. We have to demand the best for our students, our teachers and our schools. We won’t be able to maintain the success of the Recovery Act if our students can’t continue to build on the progress they’ve made. Congress needs to act swiftly to help keep teachers in the classroom and students learning.”

In March, Chairman Miller introduced the Local Jobs for America Act to invest $23 billion to help states support education jobs.

More information about the legislation to help save local jobs

“Today’s announcement is a devastating blow for workers and communities in New York City, but sadly they are not alone. All across the country, we are hearing from mayors and community leaders who are deeply worried about pending budget crises and their impacts on workers, their families and municipalities. A new study by the American Association of School Administrators predicts that over 80 percent of school districts will have to cut jobs for the coming year.

“Whether it’s the potential loss of teachers, school nurses, janitors, firefighters, law enforcement officers, or countless other critical services – it’s clear that these looming crises, if left unaddressed, stand to threaten the livelihoods of thousands of families, to cut off essential public services, and to undermine our broader economic recovery. In addition to laying off teachers, Mayor Bloomberg’s budget will close 16 daycare centers, 50 senior centers and 20 firehouses, and will shutter libraries, lay off child caseworkers, and close adult literacy programs.

“Instead of cutting services and adding to the unemployment crisis, we should be doing the opposite: Putting people to work providing services that are needed now more than ever. The Local Jobs for America Act has been steadily gaining momentum for months among local mayors and county officials – Democrats and Republicans. The bill will quickly create and save up to one million jobs in both the public and private sectors, and lets local communities decide where jobs are most needed.   These will be local jobs that we can count – and jobs that we can count on.

“The bill means that local governments won’t have to balance their budgets on the backs of students, working families, or homeowners. Local officials shouldn’t have to choose between raising taxes and eliminating key services.

“It will also help local businesses put people back to work by investing in private sector job training for workers – and by spurring hiring. Local businesses won’t be able to start hiring again until consumers start spending again. Investing in jobs for public sector workers who have been pink-slipped will put money back in their pockets – generating spending at their local grocery stores, pharmacies and other retail shops.

“Finally, it will protect our children from paying an unfair price. Teacher and education-related cuts ultimately hurt our students – and our future. This legislation includes a $23 billion education jobs fund that will support at least 250,000 jobs for teachers, principals, cafeteria workers and other key school personnel.

“For all of these reasons, Congress should act immediately. Americans shouldn’t have to wait for another announcement.”

The Local Jobs for America Act was introduced in March and currently has 158 co-sponsors. It has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, education groups, and over 300 organizations. Learn more about the Local Jobs for America Act.

Today, both the New York Times and the Washington Post ran opinion pieces calling for Congress to act on Miller’s bill.

Earlier this week, Miller joined the nation’s leading teachers unions and teachers who have been pink-slipped at a press conference. View footage from the event.

“An investment in teachers is an investment in the future of our students and our country,” said. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the committee. “Teachers play an absolutely critical role in shaping our next generation of engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs. If we’re serious about closing the achievement gap, ending the high school dropout crisis, and regaining our global competitiveness, then we have to be serious about supporting teachers.”

Studies show teachers are the single most important factor in determining the success of children in school. School leaders are the second most important factor.

“Students will not do well in school if they are not taught by well-prepared and engaged teachers,” said Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers. “At the same time, neither students nor their teachers can succeed unless the teachers are supported by competent administrators who understand not simply the value but also the necessity of collaboration; the environment in which they are asked to learn and teach is safe, appropriately staffed and equipped; and there is shared responsibility—not top-down accountability.”

More than 200,000 students complete a teacher preparation program each year, but little comprehensive data exists on the effectiveness of these programs. Witnesses testified that teacher preparation programs and schools of education need to do a better job to properly train teachers.

“We need to build a system so that all beginning teachers can perform competently from their first day in the classroom, no matter how they enter teaching,” said Dr. Deborah Ball, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. “Right now, teachers are considered ‘qualified’ simply by virtue of graduating from an accredited program or competing a major in the subject they teach. This sidesteps the real issue, for it relies on poor proxies for teaching effectiveness instead of demonstrated capacity to do the actual work that will help student learn. This is perilous for our students.”

Although professional development is a key component of teacher success, the  U.S. lags behind other countries in required teacher professional development. Singapore and Sweden, for example, require teachers to have at least 100 hours of professional development each year. Research shows that in order for professional development to be successful, it must be intensive, ongoing and connected to practice. Just over half of teachers were given time away from regular duties or professional development in the 2003-2004 school year.

Marie Parker-McElroy, an Instructional Coach in the Fairfax County Public Schools testified that “districts – especially those most in need of improvement - can build capacity, and provide time and support to implement effective professional development in all schools. This is the most critical lever available to improve the effectiveness of our teacher workforce, as we continue to seek ways to improve recruitment and preparation.”

In Long Beach Unified School District, where students speak 38 languages and nearly three quarters of students receive free or reduced price lunch, students are achieving at high levels.

Christopher Steinhauser, Superintendent of Schools for the district, explained that these students are succeeding because teachers are supported at every level. “New teachers are not simply left to sink or swim in Long Beach,” said Steinhauser.  “They’re supported by new-teacher coaches, and with ongoing training on how to use data to continually improve instruction throughout the school year.”

As Miller and other witnesses also emphasized at the hearing, supporting teachers has to start with ensuring teachers and leaders still have jobs. By the end of this school year, as many as 300,000 may be laid off because of the budget crises facing districts across the country.

Earlier today, Miller joined Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), union leaders and teachers who have been pink-slipped at a press conference to urge Congress to pass legislation that could help support 250,000 education jobs. Miller and Harkin have both introduced bills that would meet that goal. For more information on Miller’s bill, the Local Jobs for America Act, click here.

View witness testimony

View a clip of Chairman Miller at a press conference urging support for teacher jobs

The FIT Kids Act, H.R. 1585, which passed the House of Representatives yesterday, renews the emphasis on physical education in schools.  The Act would work to ensure kids are active during the school day and are taught to be personally responsible for their health.  The legislation would engage parents and the public by requiring all school districts and states to report on students’ physical activity, including the amount of time spent in required physical education in relation to the recommended national standard.  In addition, the Act would fund research to examine the link between children’s health and their academic achievement and recommend effective and innovative ways to get physical education back into schools.

“This bill gets to the simple truth: in order to develop healthy minds, you need healthy bodies,” said Rep. Ron Kind, co-chair of the Congressional Fitness Caucus.  “Providing increased physical education in public schools will give every child an opportunity – regardless of their background – to learn healthy habits and get moving.  We will see the benefits in their math and reading test scores, get to the root of the obesity epidemic, and get kids on a healthy path early in life.”

“Physical Education has been squeezed out of our schools and it needs to be welcomed back in with open arms,” said Rep. Zach Wamp.  “Research shows that children who get a good healthy dose of cardiovascular exercise have better brain functions, test scores and sleep patterns, along with an increased quality of life. Children who are physically well do much better in schools and avoid the chronic health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity and hypertension. The FIT Kids Act will help provide the research and information on what works best to incorporate P.E. into schools. This can be shared with parents, teachers and school directors so they can help our next generation lead an active lifestyle.”
“With one in three children in this country considered overweight or obese, childhood obesity has become a major threat to our nation’s physical and economic health,” said Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “The First Lady has rightfully recognized the need to address this epidemic and this bill complements the work of Congress and represents a first step toward improving the health and well-being of our schoolchildren.  By empowering parents, schools and students to lead healthier lives and become more physically active, we can help our kids grow, thrive, and succeed in school and in life.”

"In my heart I knew this day would come,” said Richard Simmons.  “For the last three and a half years I have worked so hard with my team to make the FIT Kids Act a reality.  We will continue to work hard so it will also pass in the Senate, and on the day that President Obama signs the bill in to law, he'll give me one of the pens. I look forward to sharing with he and the First Lady all of my ideas on how we can get our kids more fit."

“House passage of FIT Kids Act reinforces the American Heart Association’s efforts to improve the health and wellness of children,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association.  “With childhood obesity still a growing national health concern, this bill brings us one step closer to making daily, quality physical education a reality for all America’s kids.”

“The National Football League's youth health and fitness campaign, NFL PLAY 60, recognizes the importance of daily physical activity and encourages children to lead active lifestyles,” said Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner.  “The Fit Kids Act shares that goal and is an important step in strengthening physical education programs in our schools.

With the continued rise in childhood obesity, it is important that we make physical activity a bigger priority in schools,” said Bill Sells, Vice President of the Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association.  “Active children are much more likely to be active adults.  The Fit Kids Act will be a key part of the solution to sedentary lifestyles by getting America’s young people moving to encourage lifelong activity and health.”

“The passage of the Fit Kids Act supports NASPE’s mission by disseminating crucial information to parents and the public about the quality and quantity of physical education being offered in our schools,” said Dr. Fran Cleland, NASPE Past President. “This information will lead to providing the nation’s students with highly qualified teachers who implement best practices and innovative programming and instilling students with the knowledge, skills and confidence to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.”

The FIT Kids Act has been endorsed by the following organizations: The American Heart Association, American Stroke Association, National Association for Sport and Physical Education, Afterschool Alliance, American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation, American School Health Association, Healthy Schools Campaign, National Association of Health Education Centers, National Association for County and City Health Officials, National Recreation and Park Association, Obesity Action Coalition, Researchers Against Inactivity-related Disorders, SPARK, Shaping America’s Health, Trust for America’s Health, American College of Sports Medicine, and the YMCA.

Childhood Obesity in America

Childhood obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions.  Recent studies indicate that 17 percent of 6 to 11 year olds and 17.6 percent of 12 to 19 year olds are considered obese. Furthermore, 33 percent of 6 to 11 year olds and 34 percent of 12 to 19 year olds are overweight; these rates have roughly doubled since 1980.

Overweight children and teens are much more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and various forms of cancer.  This is a costly expense to our health care system; obesity related medical costs totaled $147 billion in 2008.  

Researchers suggest that the childhood obesity epidemic is largely due to a decline in regular physical activity and a diet high in empty and fat-laden calories.  A lack of regular physical activity not only hurts a child’s health, it can also affect his/her academic development, as research also shows that healthy children learn more effectively and are higher academic achievers.  

Increasing physical activity is the most important component of any initiative to combat childhood obesity and promote the health of students. Unfortunately, many schools are being forced to cut back on PE programs because of lack of resources and competing academic demands and testing. Between 1991 and 2003, enrollment of high school students in daily PE classes fell from 41.6% to 28.4%.

“Secretary Duncan has taken an important step today for all students, recognizing every child in this country deserves the same opportunities, both in classroom and on the athletic field. Since its inception, Title IX has worked in schools across the country on behalf of all Americans, despite the Bush administration’s efforts to shamefully turn back the clock and weaken the protections in the law.  President Obama, Secretary Duncan and I all know we have a responsibility to strengthen and enforce Title IX to help all students, and bring new opportunities to the playing field in collegiate sports. Today’s decision is a win-win for student athletes, schools and sports enthusiasts. ”

***
Good afternoon.

Today Secretary Duncan joins us to discuss the Obama’s administration’s newly released blueprint for rewriting the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for meeting with us again.

Two weeks ago, you outlined President Obama’s vision for providing a world class education to every child in this country.  

You told us that the status quo is failing our students.

You told us that a strong education system is key to our long-term economic stability.

Members of this committee, on both sides of the aisle, agree.

Right now, even our best students are performing at a lower level in math than students in 22 other countries.

Nearly 80 percent of U.S. students are entering the ninth grade unable to read at grade level.

This has to change.

It’s time to overhaul and improve ESEA so that the law finally lives up to its promise: to provide an equal and excellent education for every child in America.

These improvements will require dramatic reforms to regain our role as a world leader in education.

But if we are successful, I believe we can build a solid economic foundation for our future generations.

What our students need to succeed isn’t a mystery.

They need a challenging and rigorous learning environment tied to college and career ready standards.

They need creative, effective teachers who hold them to high standards – and can adjust their teaching strategies when needed.

Innovative reformers across the country, at the local level, are making significant progress in these areas.

Now, at the federal level, we have to match their courage to disrupt the system and push the envelope.

I believe that the blueprint Secretary Duncan presents to us offers a strong roadmap for this kind of system-wide change.

Eight years ago, I helped write our current version of ESEA, the No Child Left Behind Act.

In many ways, the law was transformational.

It finally helped shine a bright light on what was really going on in our schools.

It told all of us – lawmakers, educators, parents, school boards – that it was no longer acceptable for any student to be invisible.

It showed us how all students and schools were faring, not just the richest districts or the highest-achieving students.
The results were difficult for many to swallow.

But it showed us the value of accountability for our students.

It provoked a conversation about education in this country that has gotten us where we are today.

But we know we didn’t get everything right.

The blueprint we’ll hear about today rightfully gives some control back to the states and districts to allow them to determine their own best strategies to turn around their lowest performing schools.

And it switches the conversation from one about proficiency to one about ensuring our students graduate ready for college and career.

We now have an incredible opportunity to help reshape the future of this country.

The Obama administration has already launched game-changing reforms for our schools.

Many states are taking unprecedented steps in the right direction.

In my home state of California, the state legislature removed the firewall that prevented student achievement data from being linked to teacher performance – a move that was a long time coming.

And in order to qualify for the second round of Race to the Top funding, California recently released its list of 187 persistently underperforming schools.

But California’s recent actions, and the actions of so many other states, have signaled they are ready to help fix the schools that are chronically failing our students.

As we take a close look at the administration’s blueprint today, I’d like to lay out some fundamental goals for what we must address in this rewrite.

We need to reset the bar for our students and the nation.

First, we need to ensure that every child can be taught by a great teacher, especially those who need them the most.

Teachers are the single most important factor in determining student achievement.

But 14 percent of new teachers stop teaching after their first year. More than a third leave teaching after three years. Almost 50 percent leave within five years.

We can’t expect teachers to stay in a system that doesn’t treat them with the same level of professionalism as other careers.

We can support great teaching in classrooms across this country by providing them with the right tools, like extended planning time, and more opportunities for career development.  

And by making sure that they have the data at their fingertips on how children are learning so we can understand how to better educate every child.  

Second, the quality of a child’s education should not be determined by their zip code. Every school, in every state needs to hold their students to rigorous, internationally benchmarked standards that prepares them for college and careers.

Third, there are districts and schools across the country seeing incredible success after years of stagnant results.

These schools were given the room to innovate. They’ve kept their focus on achieving at the highest levels and holding themselves accountable for all students.   

We must encourage states and districts to innovate, to think outside the box while maintaining high standards for all.

Lastly, we have to ensure we’re reaching every student with the right resources in every classroom.

Secretary Duncan, you have said repeatedly that our students get one chance at an education.

One chance.

I think the President’s blueprint lays the important markers as we begin this rewrite.

It will help build the kind of world class school system our economy needs and our children deserve,

Secretary Duncan, thank you again for being here.

Thank you for your leadership and your vision.

I look forward to hearing your testimony.

“President Obama has outlined a bold vision for reform that puts our efforts to rewrite our education laws on strong footing. Congress now has an incredible opportunity to help reshape the future of this country by overhauling No Child Left Behind and finally ensuring a world-class education for every single child in this country. This blueprint lays the right markers to help us reset the bar for our students and the nation.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will appear before the committee to discuss the President’s blueprint. It is the third in a series of hearings the committee is holding as it works to reauthorize the ESEA.

More information on the ESEA Blueprint for Reform

“Under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Duncan, the U.S. Department of Education has made tremendous strides to build a stronger economy by providing our students with the knowledge and skills they need to compete globally,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee. “If we’re serious about reaching President Obama’s goal of producing the most college graduates in the world by 2020, we will need to make sure that our students are prepared for college – and that they can afford to go once they get there.”

“We have made extraordinary progress in meeting the needs of our schools and communities in the midst of financial crisis and recession, making long-needed reforms in our Federal postsecondary student aid programs, and reawakening the spirit of innovation in our education system from early learning through college,” Duncan said. “The next step to cement and build on this progress is to complete a fundamental restructuring of ESEA.”

As Duncan explained today, over the past year the administration focused on making sure that education was not another casualty of the economic crisis. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included $100 billion in funding to help stave off layoffs of teachers and other school staff. To date, the Department of Education has awarded more than $69 billion of that funding, supporting 400,000 jobs overall -- including 300,000 jobs for principals, teachers, librarians and counselors.  

ARRA also created a $4.35 billion competitive grant program called Race to the Top, which incentivized states to make reforms in four key areas: strengthening the quality of teachers, assessments, standards and helping turn around struggling schools. To date 40 states and the District of Columbia have made changes to apply for these grants.

In his statement, Duncan said the President’s 2011 budget seeks to build on that progress by meeting several goals: “supporting reform of struggling schools, improvements in the quality of teaching and learning, implementation of comprehensive statewide data systems, and simplifying student aid.”

Duncan told lawmakers that the budget not only lays out core goals for rewriting ESEA, but also seeks to further change how education funding is awarded – so that investments are used to leverage effective reforms.

“We also propose to increase the role of competition in awarding ESEA funds to support a greater emphasis on programs that are achieving successful results,” Duncan continued.

Last month, bipartisan lawmakers on the committee announced plans to work together to overhaul ESEA. The committee has already begun to hold hearings and has asked stakeholders for their suggestions for how to improve the law.

Duncan also renewed his call for Congress to enact the historic Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, legislation authored by Miller and passed by the House in September. The legislation would save $87 billion over 10 years by eliminating subsidies to banks in the federal student loan programs and would reinvest those savings directly in students, families and taxpayers.

The bill reflects the administration’s goals of investing in students from “cradle-to-career.”It invests $8 billion over eight years to transform early learning programs that would help our earliest learners arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. It creates a more competitive community college system by investing $10 billion to help these colleges prepare students for local jobs in growing fields. And it makes unprecedented investments to make college more affordable and accessible for students, including a $40 billion increase in funding for Pell Grants over 10 years and simplifying the federal student aid application.

The president’s FY 2011 budget also calls on Congress to help make student loans more manageable for borrowers to repay by strengthening an Income-Based Repayment program enacted by Congress in 2007.

“Just as essential to preparing students for college is ensuring that students and families have the financial support they need to pay for college,” Duncan said. “No one should go broke because of student loan debt.”

For more on the committee’s efforts to rewrite ESEA, click here.

For more on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, click here.

While charter schools are not the silver bullet for fixing struggling schools, high performing charter schools offer many low-income and minority students the opportunity to receive a high quality education.

“High performing charter schools can be laboratories for innovative reforms,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “As we work  to reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we need to be open to bold ideas that will help fix our schools, get us closer to our goal of delivering a world-class education to every student in America and ensure all students have access to these innovative opportunities.”

“As we begin to rewrite No Child Left Behind, we renew our commitment to closing the achievement gap and ensuring that each and every child, regardless of disability, economic or ethnic background, receives a quality education and the opportunity to succeed,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO).  “I introduced the All Students Achieving through Reform (All-STAR) Act, which enables successful public charter schools that get the job done to expand and replicate.  By building on what we know works, All-STAR allows more at-risk students to attend a great school and realize their full potential.”

A charter school is a public school that operates with public funds but less regulation than traditional public schools. Charter schools must be open to all students, use a lottery to determine admission if applicants exceed capacity and assess students annually in the same manner as public schools.

Specifically, today’s hearing examined legislation introduced by Polis, the All Students Achieving Through Reform Act, that would help expand access to and improve the quality of charter schools. The bill would allow states and school districts to compete for funds to help replicate and grow successful charter schools.

As witnesses explained, autonomy is one factor that helps quality charter schools succeed.

“We have the freedom to get it right,” said Eva Moskowitz, CEO and Founder, of the Harlem Success Academy. “The freedom to correct in real time when we get stuff wrong.  The freedom to innovate.  The freedom to work longer and harder. The freedom to organize our schools around children and teaching rather than the economic interests of grownups.  Without this freedom, you would get the same results district schools get.”

Today more than 1.5 million students, three percent of all schoolchildren, attend nearly 5,000 charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Growth has continued steadily, but is concentrated in urban districts and a few states.

“The presence of even one charter school that is sending all of its poor and minority students to college can be a game changer for an urban superintendent,” said Robin Lake, Associate Director at the Center for Reinventing Public Education. “It can take away excuses that district schools can’t do better and it can inspire people to want to make politically difficult decisions.”

While charter schools have grown steadily in some districts, 89 percent of districts nationwide do not have a charter school.

Charter schools are accountable to the families and communities they serve, as well as the authorizing agency that oversees them. But research shows that 40 percent of charter school authorizers report that they do not have sufficient resources to help perform their responsibilities to support students, teachers and schools.

According to Greg Richmond, President, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, “without strong authorizer practices in place, a school drifting off course quickly becomes a disaster for its students, parents and the public.”

In addition, while high performing charter schools have helped increase student achievement, special populations of students, including students with disabilities, are often under-represented.

“Students with disabilities, English language learners and homeless students have rights as American citizens both granted to them by the Constitution and within various federal education laws. Anecdotal information suggests that some parents are discouraged from applying to charter schools and that some charter schools ‘send back’ students with complicated needs to traditional public schools,” said Dr. Thomas Hehir, Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “America has opened doors to previously excluded groups through the Civil Rights Act, the IDEA and The Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The federal government needs to assure that discrimination is not occurring within the charter sector.”

The hearing was one of a series of hearings the committee will hold as it prepares to overhaul ESEA. Last week, Miller, along with other leaders from the committee, announced they are moving forward with a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to ensure every child, in every state, receives a top-notch education. For more information, click here.

To view witness testimony, click here.

“Today, we’re announcing a bipartisan, open and transparent effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind – a law that we all agree is in need of major reform. It will start with a series of hearings in the coming weeks to explore the challenges and opportunities ahead as we work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America. With a real commitment to innovation, we invite all stakeholders who share our serious interest in building a world-class education system to email us their suggestions.”
 
The committee’s first hearing will focus on charter schools and will be held on February 24, 2010.

Beginning today, groups and stakeholders can send the committee their input and suggestions at eseacomments@mail.house.gov. The deadline for comments is March 26, 2010.

“One year ago, our nation was headed toward an economic collapse, shedding an average of 600,000 jobs a month. State and local budget cutbacks were putting teachers’ jobs – and our students’ education – in peril. Our economy was in need of emergency triage that would immediately begin to save and create jobs and lay the foundation for longer-term economic growth.

“One year after its enactment, it is clear that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is meeting these core goals. To date, the law has already created or saved two million jobs and helped our economy grow at its fastest rate in years. It has funded more than 300,000 education jobs, keeping teachers in classrooms and children and students of all ages learning. It has helped minimize harmful cuts at public colleges and universities and provided students with larger Pell Grants to pay for college.

“The Recovery Act has provided a much-needed lifeline for workers who lost their jobs – and their health insurance along with it. Millions of Americans have received extended or increased unemployment benefits and many got help paying for their COBRA premiums because of the Recovery Act. We can’t underestimate the difference this has made for laid-off workers struggling to put food on their tables, heat their homes, or pay for a visit to the doctor.

“The Recovery Act is also making strategic investments in our future. Recovery programs are training displaced workers for high-growth jobs in our health care, biotech, clean energy and manufacturing sectors. The Race to the Top program is leveraging key education reforms that will better prepare our children for college, competitive jobs and a global economy.

“As President Obama and Congress have repeatedly said, the Recovery Act marked the beginning of our efforts to rebuild our economy and our middle class. Too many workers continue to lose their jobs or have trouble finding new ones. Our work will not be over until every American in need of a job can find one.”

RECOVERY ACT: HELPING STUDENTS, WORKERS AND FAMILIES

• 2 million: the number of jobs created or saved by Recovery dollars thus far, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
• 300,000: the number of teaching and other education-related jobs saved or created.
• $500: the increase in the Pell Grant scholarship eligible students received for the 2009-2010 year due to this law alone. 
• $2.4 billion: the amount of Federal support that helped colleges and universities keep teaching, even as enrollments grew, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

“It's exciting that the Obama administration plans to commit additional resources to empower both states and districts to significantly improve our schools. As states and districts lead the way, the federal government can be a strong partner in reform by upholding the integrity of the program and ensuring these resources are used as intended to help leverage real change."

Race to the Top was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and provides grants to states that commit to four key areas of reform: Designing rigorous standards linked to high-quality assessments, recruiting and retaining great teachers, implementing data systems and using effective approaches to turn-around low-performing schools.

To learn more about Race to the Top, click here.

“It is critical that schools have access to the equipment they need to ensure the foods they serve are safe and healthy to eat, especially since more and more children rely on the school meal programs as a nutritional safety net. In the wake of dwindling state and local budgets, these grants will help many schools overcome significant barriers to buying quality food service equipment.  I applaud Secretary Vilsack for getting this money out the door quickly and I hope states and school districts are able to spend this money effectively and in the same speedy manner.”

For more information about the other investments Congress has made in school meals, click here.

For more information about the equipment grants, click here.

“This legislation wisely targets our resources in the workers and families who need the most help weathering this economy.

“It makes key investments to help dislocated workers get the training and skills they need for good jobs in high growth industries and increases worker protections against wage theft and exploitation so that employees who work hard and play by the rules get their fair shake.

“It takes important steps to strengthen our health care workforce and meet the health care needs of families as Congress continues working to fulfill our promises to reform our broken health insurance system.

“It enhances our future competitiveness by boosting teacher effectiveness and addressing our high school dropout crisis -- two approaches that will help more students graduate from high school with a quality education. It continues our commitment to the Pell Grant scholarship so Americans have access to an affordable college education and further invests in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions. And it supports early education opportunities to put our youngest learners on the path to success.

“Altogether, these investments will help us build on the progress our economy is beginning to make and lay the groundwork for a sustainable recovery. I want to commend Chairman Obey and the Appropriations Committee for crafting a package that does right by students, workers and families and upholds our commitment to fiscal responsibility. I look forward to continuing to work with them to make further progress in rebuilding and strengthening our nation’s middle class.”

For more information on the Labor, Health and Education provisions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, click here.

###

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released last spring exposed hundreds of cases of schoolchildren being abused as a result of inappropriate uses of restraint and seclusion, often involving untrained staff. In some cases, children died. A disproportionate number of these victims were students with disabilities.

“Something is very wrong when our children are at risk in their own classrooms,” said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee who requested the GAO’s investigation. “In some cases, the abuses these kids are suffering are nothing short of torture inflicted at the hands of the very staff we entrust with their safety. Today is a critical first step toward finally ending this nightmare of abuse and ensuring that all classrooms are safe for students, their teachers, and the entire school communities.”

“As a parent, when I send my son Cole to school, my husband Brian and I send him with the expectation that he is safe from danger. We entrust him to teachers, principals, and aides. And we know those school personnel have done an outstanding job to help him and keep him safe. Yet, we know this has not been the case for other children, particularly children with disabilities who are the most vulnerable and need the most protection,” said McMorris Rodgers, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee and vice chair of the House Republican Conference. “I’ve looked into this and have come to the conclusion that there is a lack of training. As difficult situations arise, teachers or principals just don’t know what to do. The legislation that we are introducing today gives states the needed guidance and resources to enable teachers and school personnel to handle difficult situations in the most positive manner possible.”

“The tragedies associated with the inappropriate use of seclusion and restraint are not only unacceptable, they are unconscionable,” said Dodd.  “There is no place in our schools for what amounts to torture, and we need clear standards for the use of tactics that lead to the physical and psychological abuse of children.  This legislation will set clear guidelines so that children and educators alike can be sure of a safe learning environment.”

Created with flickrSLiDR.

Restraint is used to restrict an individual’s freedom of movement. Seclusion is used to involuntarily confine a student in an area alone. Both practices are meant to be used only in situations of imminent danger. Among other things, the GAO found that restraint can become fatal when it restricts breathing, that many of the school staff who used these interventions in abusive ways had not been properly trained, and that these practices are often being used as a routine disciplinary tactic, rather than in response to an emergency.

In some of the cases GAO investigated, ropes, duct tape, chairs with straps and bungee cords were used to restrain or isolate young children.

Unlike in hospitals and other medical and community-based facilities that receive federal health funding, there are currently no federal laws addressing restraint and seclusion in schools. While the Children’s Health Act of 2000 regulates how and when restraint and seclusion can be used on children in these other settings, schools are not covered. State regulation and oversight varies greatly; many states provide no guidance or assistance regarding these behavioral interventions.

The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in Schools Act (H.R. 4247) would establish the first federal standards to protect students from misuse of restraint and seclusion and ensure the safety of everyone in the classroom. It would apply to public schools, private schools and preschools receiving federal education support. Specifically the legislation would:

 

• Establish important minimum federal safety standards in schools, similar to the protections already in place in hospitals and other non-medical community based facilities
• Limit physical restraint and locked seclusion, allowing these interventions only when there is imminent danger of injury, and only when imposed by trained staff;
• Outlaw mechanical restraints, such as strapping kids to chairs, and prohibit restraints that restrict breathing;
• Require schools to notify parents after incidents when restraint or seclusion was used;
• Call on states, within two years of enactment, to establish their own policies, procedures, monitoring and enforcement systems to meet these minimum standards;
• Encourage states to provide support and training to better protect students and prevent the need for emergency behavioral interventions; and
• Increase transparency, oversight and enforcement tools to prevent future abuse.

The Education and Labor Committee plans to mark up the bill early next year.

Miller first requested the GAO investigation in January 2009, after the National Disability Rights Network released a report highlighting these abuses. The GAO unveiled its findings at an Education and Labor Committee hearing in May.

To view a fact sheet on the legislation, click here.

For more information on May’s hearing, click here.

###

Nationwide, about 7,000 high school students drop out every day. Only about 70 percent of students now graduate from high school with a regular diploma. There are 2,000 “dropout factories” across the country, which produce more than 50 percent of the nation’s dropouts, and a recent study suggests that in the 50 largest U.S. cities, only 53 percent of students graduate on time.  Poor and minority children disproportionately attend these dropout factories, and graduation rates for African American, Hispanic, and Native American students are significantly lower than those of their white peers. In addition, only 56 percent of all students with disabilities earn diplomas each year.

The Graduation for All Act would help end this crisis by providing eligible school districts with competitive grants to help turn around their lowest-performing high schools, often deemed “dropout factories,” as well as struggling, feeder middle schools. In order to be eligible to receive a grant, a district must first identify schools most in need of comprehensive reform, determine a strategy for turning around each school, and form a team of experts and community leaders, called a Graduation Improvement Team, to help carry out these turnaround strategies. Districts receiving grants would be required to implement data systems to help better detect early warning signs of dropout behavior (such as frequent absences or failing a course), use appropriate interventions targeted to student needs and monitor the impact of interventions so that they can be refined as necessary. Research shows identifying and addressing these patterns early on can help keep at-risk students in school. 

“We are failing our students, failing our communities and failing our nation if we allow this dropout crisis to continue,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “Ending this epidemic is a civil rights imperative, a moral issue and an economic necessity. This bill says that it is no longer acceptable to let an at-risk student fall through the cracks and empowers schools to make the changes needed to help at-risk students thrive in school, earn a diploma and go on to college or a good job.”

“We must stop the everyday dropout rate of thousands of students from our middle schools and high schools. In particular we must address the problems encountered by so many minority students who are at a higher risk of dropping out of school. “The Graduation for All Act of 2009 builds on ‘The Graduation Promise Act’ which directly addresses our nation’s dropout crisis,” said U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), Chairman of Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness. “I continue to work with Chairman George Miller and other Members of Congress on the Education and Labor Committee on legislation to address our nation’s dropout problem. The only way for the United States to be a world class contender in the global market is to ensure that all of our children stay in school and graduate not only high school, but college as well. We are working together to make that happen.”

 “I am extremely proud to join with my colleagues to introduce the Graduation for All Act. This legislation includes provisions from my legislation, the Fast Track to College Act, which makes important investments in early college high school partnerships and dual enrollment programs,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education. “These programs enable students, especially those underrepresented in postsecondary education, to earn an associate’s degree or up to two years of transferrable college credits at no cost to their families, while still in high school.  These programs have a proven track record of reducing dropout rates, keeping students engaged, and providing a seamless transition to college.” 

“The dropout rate has reached epic proportions in minority communities,” said U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL).  “Only 48% of African American males and 58% of Latino males graduate from high school.  The social, economic and human costs are horrific.  This bill will meaningfully advance efforts to identify and help individual youth at risk for dropping out early on and we know that early identification and intervention significantly reduces the dropout rate and significantly increases the graduation rate.”

“One of the most important aspects of this legislation is that it provides students in high-need schools with rigorous curricula and the teacher support to master college-ready courses.”  said U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), architect of the nationally acclaimed college access program GEAR UP. “Students will be given information about the college admission process and financial aid opportunities keys to encouraging students to keep their focus on a college education.  We have learned through GEAR UP that increasing academic rigor, demystifying the college and financial aid application processes, and focusing on post-secondary education dramatically increases high school graduation rates.  This bill builds on that experience and I am proud to have contributed to its development.”

“This bill not only makes a strong financial commitment to ending our nation’s school dropout crisis, it puts the right programs in place to encourage greater college enrollment and improve educational opportunity at many age levels,” said U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ). “No cause could be more important than educating American students, and this bill gives timely and needed support to struggling middle schools and high schools around the country to make that goal achievable.”

“I applaud Chairman Miller and my colleagues for moving forward on this vital issue, ” said U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA). “This is a significant step forward in our fight to address the drop out dilemma.  Recent research has shown that nearly 600,000 students dropped out of the high school class of 2008 in the nation's fifty largest cities and the surrounding areas.  We must do more to stem this tide and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to bring support to Iowa and states across America.”

“This legislation will make a strong investment in education, intervention services and resources that are critical to addressing the dropout crisis and turning low performing schools into high achieving schools,” said U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA). “We must address these shortcomings that are persistent in our schools in order compete in today’s global economy with a highly skilled and educated workforce.  I am pleased that this is one more step we are taking to improve the quality of education for all our children.”

The legislation also will help prepare students for college and careers by requiring schools to provide them with their financial aid options and other college-related information. This bill includes $150 million for Early College and dual enrollment programs to allow students to earn up to two years of college credit at no cost to the student, which would help decrease the overall cost of college for these students.

For more information on the Graduation for All Act, click here.

The study, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, placed all state academic standards for proficiency in reading and math scores on a common scale to compare results across states and compare with/to proficiency standards set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Among other things, the report found that most states are below or only meet basic standards set by NAEP. As a result, the rigor of a child’s education can depend entirely on the state where they live.

“The quality of a child’s education should not be determined by their zip code. It is unacceptable that many states have chosen to lower the bar rather than strive for excellence. This means that many students aren’t even expected to rise to meet rigorous standards – they are allowed to linger in a system that doesn’t challenge them to do better and doesn’t help them develop the complex skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the jobs of the future,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “If we are serious about rebuilding our economy and restoring our competitiveness, then its time for states  to adopt a common core of internationally-benchmarked standards that can prepare all children in this country to achieve  and succeed in this global economy.”

To read the full report, Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Scales: 2005-2007, click here.

###

Dennis Van Roekel, the president of the National Education Association, the largest teacher’s union in the country, testified that his union would take steps to help address barriers in collective bargaining agreement that can make it hard to get the best teachers in high-need schools. He said the NEA will encourage local affiliates to waive language in collective bargaining agreements that prevent this goal.

“The NEA commits to address barriers in collective bargaining agreements by requesting that every local NEA affiliate enter into a compact or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its local school district to waive any contract language that prohibits staffing high-needs schools with great teachers,” he testified. “These compacts should also add commitments that would enhance this goal. Similarly, NEA would promote compacts or MOUs for its non-collective bargaining local affiliates that have high-needs schools in their districts.”

Miller thanked Van Roekel, calling the testimony “a very important signal from NEA that represents a significant departure from their historical position.”

Children in schools with the highest poverty rates or largest minority populations are assigned to novice teachers almost twice as often as children in low-poverty schools or schools without many minority students. Studies also show there is more out-of-field teaching and inequality in math than in other subjects. In high-poverty and high-minority middle schools – the very time when math fundamentals like Algebra are often taught – about 70 percent of math classes are taught by a teacher who does not have a college major or minor in math or a math-related field.  

“We cannot expect students to reach high levels of subject understanding if the instructor him/herself lacks that very understanding,” said U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA). “Too often high-poverty schools are staffed by teachers who attended the least selective and rigorous post-secondary institutions, who achieved the lowest scores on certification exams and who failed to major or minor in the subject they are assigned to teach.”  A child of color in Chicago is 23 times more likely than other children to have a teacher who failed their basic skills exam, according to Fattah.  

Inequitable distribution of teacher talent hurts the economy, as well as widens the achievement gap. An April 2009 study by McKinsey and Company found the achievement gap “imposes on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.”

“Nothing is more important to closing longstanding achievement gaps than getting more of our most effective teachers teaching our most vulnerable students,” said Dr. Linda Murray, Acting Executive Director at Education Trust-West. “Doing this right will require replacing outmoded methods of teacher evaluation with evaluation systems that draw on longitudinal data that link teachers and the growth of the students they teach.”

Under No Child Left Behind, states are required to have plans to ensure that effective teachers are distributed equally but it was rarely enforced under the Bush administration. The Obama administration has already taken important steps to enforce teacher equity provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Specifically, in order to be eligible for emergency state fiscal stabilization funds or to apply for the Race to the Top fund, states and districts must provide an assurance that that they will take steps to address disparities in teacher equity, in addition to other assurances.

Teachers in schools with high numbers of poor and minority are also paid less than teachers in wealthier schools, according to research by Dr. Marguerite Roza, Research Associate Professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington.

In almost every school district across the nation, schools that need funding the most get fewer resources.  

“If we care about the success of our students, we have to start caring about the success of their teachers,” said Layla Avila, Vice President of the Teaching Fellows Program at The New Teacher Project. “And that means acknowledging the real differences between teachers in their effectiveness, and taking action to ensure that all children get the same kinds of teachers…”

This is the first in a series of hearings the Committee will hold looking at how to ensure all children have access to effective teachers.

To view witness testimony, click here.

"Secretary Duncan and I have both spent a great deal of time listening and learning from parents, students, teachers, and school leaders about No Child Left Behind.  We know the law is in need of a major overhaul -- and how much is at stake in getting it right. Education is the civil rights issue of our generation, but current law has major flaws that have allowed states to lower the bar for children and allowed achievement gaps to persist.

“We have to improve the law in reasonable and commonsense ways that reflect what we’ve learned since the last reauthorization and that build on the important reforms outlined in the Race to the Top Fund. A world-class education system must incentivize and reward teachers for excellence, must ensure that all students are held to rigorous standards that prepare them for a 21st century economy, must measure student achievement more accurately and fairly, and must help turn around our lowest-performing schools, among other things. I look forward to working with President Obama, Secretary Duncan and Senator Harkin, and all key stakeholders to rewrite the law in a comprehensive and meaningful way that finally fulfills the promise of an excellent education for every child in America.”

###

The investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), the government agency which oversees the federal school meals program, “did not always ensure that states and schools receives timely and complete notification about suspect food products provided to schools through the federal commodity program.” In some cases, it took states and schools several days to a week or more to fully determine which products were recalled. During that time, the recalled products may have been served in the school meals.  The investigation was requested by U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), and U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).

“This report underscores the need for comprehensive reform of our food safety structures,” said Durbin. “The 30 million students in the national school lunch program, their parents, and the country at large, deserve to know that the food they eat is safe and free of contaminants.”

“Ensuring that all children have access to healthy and nutritious meals during the school day is vital to our efforts to help all children learn and succeed. Every possible effort must be made to make sure that the foods served to our schoolchildren are safe to eat,” said Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Child Nutrition Act. “As we work toward reauthorizing the school meal programs, it is clear that further actions must be taken to strengthen the communications, planning and procedures needed to prevent recalled or contaminated foods from entering our cafeterias.”

“It is absolutely essential that food recalls affecting schools are carried out quickly and effectively because children are most vulnerable to becoming seriously ill from food-borne illness outbreaks,” said DeLauro. “This report demonstrates that much work needs to be done to ensure that adequate monitoring and notification procedures are in place to remove recalled food products from school cafeterias.  I will work with USDA and FNS to ensure that our school children our protected from unsafe foods.”     

“This report shows us that school safety doesn’t just mean stopping violence and bullying. It also means ensuring our students have access to healthy, and safe school meals,” said McCarthy. “It is clear there is no silver bullet solution but I hope the administration will take the appropriate action to keep the school meal program safe for all our children.”

Foods from the commodity market account for 15 to 20 percent of school meal products.  The process in place to notify schools of contaminated or recalled products starts first with FNS, who contacts state agencies; state agencies then notify school districts. FNS must notify states within 24 hours of learning of a recall, and then states are expected to notify school districts within 24 hours of receiving the notice. When states or school districts purchase food commercially, which accounts for the remaining 80 to 85 percent of products in school meals, the school district is typically notified directly by a distributor, wholesaler, or whoever sold the school district the food.

The report highlights the lack of communication among the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and FNS. The gaps in communication among these agencies ultimately leads to delays in schools and school districts receiving the information they needed to take timely action. Gaps also meant school districts did not receive appropriate guidance on how to dispose of recalled products, which could increase the risk for those products to be “inadvertently consumed.”

In some instances, school districts initiated the hold on potentially contaminated products themselves while they waited for confirmation from USDA.

The lawmakers requested the probe initially in February 2008, after an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States revealed egregious abuses of cattle at a California meatpacking plant, which led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history. A significant portion of the recalled meat had been supplied to school and other federal nutrition programs.

The report also looked into contaminated peanut products, after information was revealed about the unsanitary conditions at the Peanut Corporation of America in Blakely, Georgia that led to a salmonella outbreak. According to new reports, the plant’s outbreak was linked with sickness in more than 500 people; including eight deaths.

To view the full GAO report, click here.

###

“Secretary Duncan is committed to ensuring all children, in every single school in this country, is safe and protected,” said Miller, who is working to develop legislation that would address seclusion and restraint in U.S. schools. “We need to do everything we can to protect schoolchildren from abusive, torturous, and – in some cases – deadly uses of seclusion and restraint and to stop these horrific abuses from going unchecked."

Unlike in hospitals, other health care facilities and non-medical community-based facilities that receive federal funding, there are currently no federal laws that restrict the use of seclusion and restraint in public or private schools. State regulation and oversight varies greatly. Nineteen states have no laws governing the appropriate use of seclusion or restraint in schools.

“Today’s vote is a vote to put students before banks and to finally ensure that our nation’s financial aid programs operate as intended – in the best interests of students, families and taxpayers,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the Chairman of the Committee and the author of the bill. “This landmark legislation will help write the next great education legacy for our country. President Obama has rightly called for us to make historic investments to make college more affordable, to empower community colleges to help rebuild our economy, and to prepare our youngest learners to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. I hope this Congress will join our Committee in standing with him on the right side of history.”

“This bill goes a long way towards expanding the accessibility and affordability of a college education for students across America” said U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness. “The bill will streamline the financial aid application process and increase funding for Pell Grants and Minority Serving Institutions, while also helping lower our national deficit.  This bill accomplishes something we can all be proud of.”

Similar to what President Obama proposed in his FY 2010 budget, the bill will originate all new federal student loans through the Direct Loan program starting in 2010, instead of through lenders subsidized by taxpayers in the federally-guaranteed student loan program. Unlike the lender-based program, the Direct Loan program is entirely insulated from market swings and can therefore guarantee students access to affordable college loans, at the same low interest rates, terms and conditions, no matter what happens in the economy.

The legislation will ensure that all federal student loan borrowers receive the best possible customer service when repaying their loans by forging a new public-private partnership that allows private lenders to compete for contracts to service loans. Additionally, it will ensure that non-profit lenders have the opportunity to continue servicing loans – preserving a role for lenders and maintaining jobs in communities throughout the country.

According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the legislation will generate $87 billion in savings over the next 10 years. The legislation would invest those savings directly in students and families by:

• Investing $40 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $6,900 by 2019. Starting in 2010, the scholarship will be linked to match rising costs-of-living by indexing it to the Consumer Price Index plus 1 percentage point;
• Investing $3 billion to bolster college access and completion support programs for students;
• Strengthening the Perkins Loan program, a campus-based program that provides low-cost federal loans to students;
• Keeping interest rates low on need-based – or subsidized – federal student loans by making the interest rates on these loans variable beginning in 2012. These interest rates are currently set to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent in 2012;
• Making it easier for families to apply for financial aid by simplifying the FAFSA form;
• Providing loan forgiveness for members of the military who are called up to duty in the middle of the academic year; and
• Investing $2.55 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions to provide students with the support they need to stay in school and graduate.

In addition, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will direct $10 billion of these savings back to the U.S. Treasury to help pay down the deficit. It will invest over $4 billion for school modernization, renovation and repair projects that will help improve school buildings across the country and help the nation transition to a clean energy economy. And it will also invest $1 billion per year over eight years to help ensure that the next generation of children can enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed in school. Building on proposals included in President Obama’s 2010 budget, the bill establishes the Early Learning Challenge Fund, a competitive grant program that challenges states to build a comprehensive, high-quality early learning system for children from birth through age five. 

To view a summary of the legislation, click here.

The House Education and Labor Committee has been examining various proposals for student loan reform and seeking feedback from all key stakeholders over the past few months. In May, the Committee held a hearing to examine these proposals, at which the Obama administration, lenders and colleges and universities testified. For more information on that hearing, click here.

“It is good news that the achievement gap overall among black and white students is narrowing in most states. But this report also reinforces that major work must be done to address the discrepancies we are still seeing for eighth grade students. The fact that there has been no significant closing of the achievement gap in reading for eighth grade students is alarming. Research shows us that students who struggle in middle school are much more likely to drop out of high school. These students earn a million dollars less over their lifetime than high school graduates. In this economy, we simply cannot let another student face this harsh reality.

“This report offers further proof that we need to focus significantly more attention and resources on the high school dropout crisis that continues to threaten our economic strength and competitiveness. These results underscore the need to address the dropout crisis, and that means doing more on behalf of struggling students before they ever enter the doors of high school.”

Last month, the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on the high school dropout crisis in this country. For more information about the hearing and to view witness testimony, click here.

“Schools must be safe places for all students, regardless of sexual orientation, so that they can learn without fear of being bullied or attacked,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), chairwoman of the Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee. “I am grateful for the witnesses who came today to testify about school safety, and I was especially pleased that Ms. Sirdeaner Walker could join us. She told the heartbreaking story of her 11 year old son Carl who committed suicide after being the victim of anti-gay harassment. I pledge to work with my fellow members of Congress to decrease incidents of bullying, harassment, and violence in our schools.  We need to do more to prevent school violence and we must start by finding better means of collecting and analyzing data so we can learn more about the problem and find ways to fix it once and for all.”

“As a father, a grandfather and a former teacher I believe that nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of our school children,” said U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee. “Our schools must be places where children feel secure and where their future potential can be nurtured. Violence or harassment of any kind has no place in our educational institutions and I look forward to working with my colleagues to address this serious problem.”  

“We can no longer look at bullying as just kids being kids,” said U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), sponsor of the Safe School Improvement Act (H.R. 2262) and the Bullying and Gang Reduction for Improved Education Act (H.R. 1589). “When we empower schools to teach both children and adults to prevent and address bullying, we not only make schools safer, we make learning happen, and we even save lives. I hope the testimony given at today's hearing showed the desperate need to make sure that schools address bullying and harassment as part of their overall safe school strategies."

Witnesses testified about the tragic consequences of bullying and unsafe school environments. In April 2009, Carl Walker-Hoover committed suicide after being ruthlessly bullied, called “gay”, and threatened by other kids that. His mother, Sirdeaner Walker, called the school when she discovered this and was told the situation was normal and would work itself out.

“I know now that bullying is not a gay issue, or a straight issue. It’s a safety issue,” said Walker. “It’s about what kind of learning environments we want for our children and how far we’re willing to go to protect and teach them.”

Witnesses explained that a safe learning environment is a key factor in helping students achieve academically. Research shows that students who do not feel safe are less likely to have academic success and graduate.

“Does a feeling of safety help a student concentrate on schoolwork?  Some may say no, but as a student, I feel that safety is one of the most important things,” said Cassady Tetsworth, a rising high school senior and vice chair of the National Youth Advisory Board for Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE). “When a student feels safe, when tolerance overcomes bullying and harassment, and when there is respect in student-to-student, teacher-to-student, and adult-to-adult interactions, students don’t have to worry about anything but their classes.”

Other student witnesses echoed the importance of peer-to-peer programs that encourage student safety. Josie and Jackie Andrews, students who advocate for safer schools, highlighted their efforts to create curriculum and a screenplay that teach kids not to be bystanders when bullying occurs.

Witnesses also explained that schools should be held accountable for their safety efforts, just as they currently are for students’ learning. Better data and more accurate reporting on safety should be a part of any comprehensive approach to keep kids safe while at school.

“It is essential for school safety to become a priority in every school, and the best evidence-based practices need to be implemented to ensure the safety of all students,” said Dr. Scott Poland, Coordinator of the Office of Suicide and Violence Prevention and Nova Southeastern University. “This will only happen when every school board, superintendent, and state and national entity requires the same accountability for school safety that we currently require for academic performance.”

“Federal school safety policy, programs, and funding, just like that at the state and local education level, must therefore be based upon an approach and framework which is comprehensive and balanced,” said Kenneth Trump, president and CEO of National School Safety and Security Services, Inc.. “Too often, school safety advocates call for ‘more prevention’ OR ‘better security.’  The real answer should be ‘more prevention’ AND ‘better security.’  Effective approaches to school safety include prevention, security, and preparedness measures, not a curriculum-only or security-only approach.”

“Parents deserve every assurance that their children are safe when in the care of educators, regardless of whether they’re in a classroom, at recess or on a field trip,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “With today’s vote, the House has made it clear that every school needs to have thorough and effective policies in place to ensure that field trips provide safe, productive and exciting learning opportunities for students.”

“Every child’s life is precious so when there are reasonable steps that we can take to better protect our young people, then I believe we should take them,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ), chief sponsor of the bill. “Having parents judge the sufficiency of school safety and security plans before giving their consent to approve any off-campus school trip for their child is highly appropriate and clearly necessary. This law also will help ensure that all involved – the schools, the chaperones, the students, and parents – know what their individual roles and responsibilities are on a trip and what will happen should tragedy strike.”

In addition, the bill encourages the U.S. Secretary of Education to provide guidance to districts to help them develop appropriate plans.

“Outstanding charter schools are proving that low-income and minority kids can achieve at the highest levels, graduate from college and thrive as adults,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee. “The challenge ahead will be to take the lessons learned in these schools and bring them to scale, so every child can have the same opportunity to succeed”

President Obama and Secretary Duncan are strong advocates for charter schools. In March, President Obama encouraged states to reform charter laws to lift caps while increasing the rigor of selection and promoting greater accountability.

“Improving our education system by expanding high-quality public charter schools is one of this Administration’s highest priorities,” said Jim H. Shelton, III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. “States must remove arbitrary caps that have limited the replication and expansion of some of our nation’s highest-performing charter schools and charter school networks.”

41 states and territories have enacted charter school laws. There are over 4600 schools today, serving 1.4 million students. Over 60 percent of the students served by charter schools are minority and over 50 percent are eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Witnesses also emphasized that being a charter school does not necessarily ensure that a school will be successful.

High performing charter schools with commitments to a rigorous curriculum with high standards, accountability, and autonomy, are able to turn around student achievement very quickly and effectively, and are often able to close the achievement gap, witnesses explained.

Dr. John King, the Managing Director with Uncommon Schools, a non-profit charter management organization, discussed the incredible successes of Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, a charter school he co-founded. Roxbury Prep has been the highest performing urban middle school in Massachusetts for five years and has closed the racial achievement gap on state exams.  Roxbury Prep and other schools in the Uncommon Schools network have similar percentages of African American, Latino, and students living in poverty than other schools in their districts.  The success of this school and others is “replicable and scalable when school leaders are given autonomy with respect to budget, staffing, curriculum and instruction, and school culture and held strictly accountable for their results,” he testified.



Created with flickrSLiDR.


“Charter schools offered a way to stimulate innovation within public education by giving educators greater autonomy in exchange for greater accountability,” said Barbara O'Brien, Lt. Governor of Colorado. “Charter schools create opportunities and open doors for kids who would otherwise be left behind. They do it by using the best of the American spirit -- entrepreneurship, innovation, and hard work. They are an asset, not a threat, to our public education system.”

Steve Barr, founder and chairman of Green Dot Public Schools -- where 80 percent of students graduate and 80 of graduates are accepted to four year colleges -- discussed the dual role of the charter schools he founded. They serve both to help provide excellent education opportunities for the students at the schools, but also to provide research and development opportunities to the district, to show what is working:

“The result of the R&D of Green Dot is clear-cut across the board—and that’s that African American kids and Latino kids can learn when they’re in a system of schools that are small, are college and work ready, the dollars get in the classroom, there’s support for our product, we’re accountable to parents and we ask parents to be involved. In that vision, we think it not only serves our ultimate stakeholders—which are the students—but also teachers.”

Barr also discussed the unique partnership Green Dot schools has formed with the teachers union.  Green Dot teachers are unionized. The union contract has “just-cause” protections instead of tenure.

“There’s ultimate accountability; job stability is not just based on seniority but also on performance,” Barr said.  “[Green Dot asks] teachers to be more involved in decision-making and [it pays] more. Our Green Dot/UFT School in New York has total alignment between the mayor, the chancellor, and the president of the teachers union.”

“I applaud the governors, chief state school officers, and all of their partners for leading the way toward a common core of fewer, clearer, and higher standards that will help close both our domestic and international student achievement gaps. We won’t be able to build the world-class education system our economy needs and our children deserve unless all students are taught to internationally-benchmarked standards that prepare them for college and good jobs and to compete in a 21st century global economy. This is an important step in the right direction, and we will to continue to examine how Congress can work with states to strengthen our competitiveness by ensuring that all U.S. students are taught to equally rigorous and high standards, no matter what zip code they live in.”

The committee recently held a hearing on creating world-class, competitive standards; for more information, click here.

“All students and teachers deserve safe and healthy learning environments, but too often, their schools are literally falling apart,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and one of the bill’s sponsors. “This legislation is a victory for students, workers and our planet. It will help improve educational opportunities and boost student achievement, it will help transition us toward a green economy by making our classrooms more environmentally-friendly, and it will get Americans back to work by creating good-paying, clean energy jobs.”

"Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Secondary and Elementary Education.  “This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment.”

“Today was a big step in the right direction—toward investing in our children, investing in our environment, and investing in long-term economic growth,” U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) said. “How we educate our children today affects how our nation performs for generations to come, so it is absolutely unacceptable that some of our children are learning in schools with leaking roofs, asbestos, falling plaster, and faulty wiring.  I am so pleased that Congress stood today with Chairman Miller, Chairman Kildee, Congressman Loebsack, and me to fix our schools and secure the future of our great nation.”

“Our children deserve the best from us, and that includes all the educational advantages we can provide,” said U.S. Rep. Loebsack (D-IA). “I have been working on “greening” our schools since I have been a Member of Congress. Modernizing our school facilities keeps our students healthy and improves their academic performance. Repairing and upgrading our schools creates and saves good paying jobs while providing lasting long-term energy cost savings for taxpayers. Everything about green schools is a win-win for our taxpayers, our teachers, and most importantly, our children.”

According to recent estimates, the nation’s schools are hundreds of billions of dollars short of what it would take to bring them into good condition. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. schools a “D” on its national infrastructure report card for this year. A recent report by the American Federation of Teachers estimates it would cost almost $255 billion to fully renovate and repair all the schools in the country. Over the last eight years, the Bush administration provided almost no direct general federal funding for school improvements.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency.

To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the legislation would require a percentage of funds be used for school improvement projects that meet widely recognized green building standards. It would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015 – the final year of funding under the bill.

The legislation would also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help improve local economies. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, the legislation would support 136,000 jobs. Recent studies also show that school quality has a direct, positive impact on residential property values and can improve a community’s ability to attract businesses and workers. The legislation also applies Davis-Bacon protections to all grants for modernization and renovation projects guaranteeing fair wages and benefits for workers.

Congress recently endorsed this type of investment by enacting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows school districts to use funds they receive under the state fiscal stabilization fund for school modernization, renovation and repair projects.

The legislation has received broad support including the Council of the Great City Schools, American Association of School Administrators, Rebuild America's Schools, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, AFL-CIO, and the U.S. Green Building Council. Congress passed H.R. 3021, similar legislation, last summer.

“The crisis we’re seeing in our nation’s high schools is real, it’s urgent, and it must be fixed,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee. “It’s become increasingly clear that addressing this dropout crisis is one of the most important things we can do to turn our economy around and regain our competitive footing for good. We have a moral and economic obligation to ensure that, at a minimum, every student in this country can graduate high school prepared to succeed in college or the workforce. Our intent is to address this problem in this Congress in the most comprehensive way possible.”
Nationwide, 7,000 students drop out every day and only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school with a regular high school diploma. Two thousand high schools in the U.S. produce more than half of all dropouts and a recent study suggests that in the 50 largest cities, only 53 percent of students graduate on time.  Research shows that poor and minority children attend these so-called “dropout factories” – the 2,000 schools that produce more than 50 percent of our nation’s dropouts – at significantly higher rates.

Studies also highlight the financial impact of the nation’s dropout rates. A recent report by the McKinsey Corporation showed that if minority student performance had reached white students by 1998, the GDP in 2009 would have been between $310 billion and $525 billion higher – or approximately 2 to 4 percent of GDP. The report also says the achievement gaps in this country are the same as having “a permanent national recession.

“Currently this Congress is grappling with massive economic problems. But the enormous cost of bailing out the banks, financial institutions, the auto industry, and AIG is still less than the economic cost of just five years of dropouts in the United States,” said Bob Wise, president, Alliance for Excellent Education and the former Governor of West Virginia. “That is why I believe that the ultimate economic stimulus package is a diploma.”

Cutting the dropout rate in half would yield $45 billion annually in new federal tax revenues or cost savings, according to a recent report by Columbia University’s Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at Teachers College.



Created with flickrSLiDR.


The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 90 percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some level of postsecondary education.

Cutting the dropout rate in half would yield $45 billion annually in new federal tax revenues or cost savings, according to a recent report by Columbia University’s Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education at Teachers College.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 90 percent of new high-growth, high-wage jobs will require some level of postsecondary education.

“Simply put, the world has changed and there is no work for high school dropouts,” said Dr. Robert Balfanz, Ph. D, a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University. “To meet its graduation challenge, the nation must find a solution for its dropout factories.”

Balfanz recent research findings show “it is often possible to identify as early as sixth grade up to half of the students who, absent effective interventions, will not graduate, and up to 80 percent by the ninth grade.”

Witnesses also presented data which shows African-America, Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native high school students have a far lower chance of graduating on time with a regular diploma.

“I echo the likes of Secretary Duncan and other education leaders when I say that education is the most important American civil rights issue of the 21st century,” said Michael Wotorson, executive director of the Campaign for High School Equity. “The one consistency in our education system is in our high schools that fail to provide students of color and youth from low-income neighborhoods with the high-quality education they need to succeed in college and in the modern workplace.”

Witnesses all agreed that a common core of rigorous internationally benchmarked standards will help ensure all students graduate career and college ready.

 “We do not have to live in a country where three out of 10 students do not graduate on time, and where on-time graduation for minority students is a 50-50 proposition,” said Marguerite Kondracke, President and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “We have solutions on the ground, and legislative proposals that will bring them to scale.”

Other witnesses called for reforms that to make schools and teachers more accountable to their students.

Scott Gordon, the CEO of Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, where 47 percent of the city’s public school first graders graduate from high school, discussed strategies that help his school turn around high dropout rates and low performance.  The average scores for Mastery students increased 35 points per grade in every subject and violence decreased by 85 percent. The schools’ turnover rates dropped a third. 

He urged teachers to take more responsibility for the outcomes of their students, and urged administrators and state officials to reward teachers accordingly.

“The structure of the turnarounds required that Mastery continue operating as a neighborhood schools and enroll all of the students currently attending.  So, in many ways these turnaround schools are perfect controlled experiments on school reform,” said Gordon. “The same students, the same neighborhood, the same building – the only variable that changed was the adults.”

“For too long, students and teachers have suffered in school buildings that are literally crumbling, posing direct threats to their safety, health and learning,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the Committee. “This legislation presents us with a vital opportunity to help boost student achievement, enhance teachers’ effectiveness, and create good jobs that transition us toward a clean energy economy – all at once.”

"Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn,” said U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Secondary and Elementary Education.  “This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment.”

“Everything about the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act makes sense,” said U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA). “By modernizing our schools to make them more energy efficient, we increase academic performance, student health, teacher retention, and cost savings for our schools while creating good paying construction jobs. That’s why I have been an advocate for Green Schools since I have been a Member of Congress, and I am pleased that we are moving forward to provide our children with a world class education in a safe, environmentally friendly learning environment.

For years, schools have been hundreds of billions of dollars short of what it would take to bring them into good condition, in part because the Bush administration provided almost no direct federal funding for school improvements over the last eight years.  In 2009, the American Civil Society of Engineers gave U.S. schools a “D” on its national infrastructure report card. According to a recent report by the American Federation of Teachers, it would cost almost $255 billion to fully renovate and repair all the schools in the country.

Congress recently endorsed this type of investment by enacting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows school districts to use funds they receive under the state fiscal stabilization fund for school modernization, renovation and repair projects.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency.

To further encourage energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources in schools, the legislation would require a percentage of funds be used for school improvement projects that meet widely recognized green building standards. It would require that 100 percent of the funds go toward green projects by 2015 – the final year of funding under the bill.

The legislation would also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and help improve local economies. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, the legislation would support 136,000 jobs. Recent studies also show that school quality has a direct, positive impact on residential property values and can improve a community’s ability to attract businesses and workers.

Congress passed H.R. 3021, similar legislation, last summer.

“Especially in this economy, with state budgets dwindling, schools have fewer resources to make classrooms top-notch learning environments for students,” said Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “No student should have to learn in a classroom or school that is literally falling apart. Creating world-class school facilities helps boost student achievement, enhances teachers’ effectiveness, generates savings for schools and creates good jobs for Americans desperately looking for work. This is smart public policy that will help us revive our economy, improve our schools, and protect our planet all at once.”

“Many of our nation’s schools are in disrepair, creating an unsafe and unhealthy classroom environment that makes it more difficult to learn.  This legislation will modernize and improve our educational facilities, providing a healthier learning and working climate for our students and teachers. Not only will this benefit our local schools, but it will create good jobs in our communities while helping to clean up the environment,” said Kildee

“Our country will rise and fall based on how we educate our children,” Chandler said, “and safe, healthy, and functional learning environments are the very basics of a good education. Numerous government studies have shown that our nation’s schools are in an alarming state of disrepair. Since introducing this bill in 2007, Chairman Miller, Chairman Kildee, Congressman Loebsack and I have been working to make this issue a national priority, and reintroducing the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act today is another big step in the right direction. ”

“The environment in which our students learn and educators teach can have an immense impact on the quality of education our children receive,” said Loebsack.  “According to the Government Accountability Office, 79% of Iowa schools need to repair or upgrade their buildings and facilities. Our students deserve more from us. By making investments to repair and modernize our schools we will not only be providing improved learning environments for our students, but we will also be able to create new jobs, spur local investment, and create long term cost savings for schools.”

Recent estimates underscore the extreme funding shortfalls facing schools in need of improvement. It would cost approximately $254.6 billion to address the school infrastructure need across the fifty states, according to a report from December of 2008 by the American Federation of Teachers.  

The construction industry is also facing urgent needs. According to U.S. Department of Labor estimates, the construction industry lost 126,000 jobs in March. Overall, the construction field has shed 1.3 million jobs since January 2007 – almost half of which were lost in the last five months.

President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a $53.6 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund primarily to backfill budget cuts and help stave off teacher layoffs. School districts can also use this fund to improve school facilities, among other uses. H.R. 2187 will build on this effort, so that all school districts can access funds to make much-needed facility improvements.

H.R. 2187 would authorize $6.4 billion for school renovation and modernization projects for fiscal year 2010, and would ensure that school districts quickly receive funds for projects that improve schools’ teaching and learning climates, health and safety, and energy efficiency. To further encourage energy-efficiency in schools, the bill would require that the majority of funds for school improvement projects meet widely recognized green building standards and would encourage states to help schools track their energy use and carbon footprints, among other things. In the final year of funding, the bill would require 100 percent to be used for these types of projects.

In the Gulf Coast, where public schools still face hundreds of millions of dollars in damages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the legislation would authorize separate funds – $600 million dollars over six years – for schools still trying to recover.

In addition, the legislation would ensure fair wages and benefits for construction workers by applying Davis-Bacon protections to all grants awarded for school improvement projects.  

“With standards varying vastly from state to state, a high school diploma no longer guarantees that students are proficient enough to succeed in college or a career or to compete with their international peers,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the committee. “It’s become increasingly clear that a rigorous, common core of standards is essential to help teachers teach and students learn. It’s critical to our goal of building world class schools that prepare all Americans to compete in 21st century jobs and our global economy.”

“We know that rigorous academic standards are necessary to prepare today’s students to succeed in tomorrow’s competitive world. And we also know that the federal government is ill-equipped – and ill-suited – to make decisions about what and how our children should learn,” said U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the panel’s top Republican. “Today’s hearing was a clarion call for state and local leadership in the area of high standards, and common benchmarks, to improve student academic achievement. We know what needs to be done, and I’m pleased to see that states are stepping up to the challenge.”


Created with flickrSLiDR.

Over the past 40 years, America has fallen from first in the world to 18th in the number of students graduating from high school and our share of the world’s college graduates has dropped from 30 percent to 15 percent. On the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, the U.S. ranks near the bottom of all industrialized countries in math, science and problem solving.

Witnesses testified the current system encourages states to lower their standards instead of raising them. As a result, a lack of comparability is undermining both students and America’s competitiveness abroad.

“Common state academic standards will strengthen U.S. competitiveness and individual success,” said Greg Jones, the chair of the California Business for Excellence in Education. “If standards are watered down, or individual states refuse to join the common state standards effort, we will not succeed in creating the globally competitive workforce of tomorrow.”

In Mississippi, for example, 89 percent of students are reading at or above proficiency on state assessments, while only 18 percent are proficient based on the National Association Educational Progress (NAEP).

Witnesses also urged the federal government not to interfere with state-led efforts to develop common standards, but rather to encourage such efforts through incentives and better support. They argued that the leadership must continue to come from states.

“States must lead this effort for the good of our young people and for the good of our country,” said Dr. Ken James, Commissioner of Education in Arkansas and the president of the Council of Chief State School Officers. “Rather, the purpose of the common state standards initiative is to raise the bar for all states by drawing on the best research and evidence from leading states and experts regarding, among other things, college-and work-readiness, rigorous knowledge and skills, and international benchmarking.”

Witnesses pointed to a “Race to the Top Fund” included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows the Secretary of Education to reward states that are using innovative approaches to raise student achievement, as a good starting point. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said he is considering using the $5 billion fund to help develop higher standards, among other things.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said many of the challenges teachers face in the classroom could be addressed by a common core of standards.

“Developing a new system of standards at first blush seems like a daunting task but it must be done,” Weingarten said. “The ‘Race to the Top’ program presents an historic opportunity to move toward common state standard by providing funds to get the job done. It would be the best possible use of that funding and could and should guide all future reform efforts.”

David Levn, co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a charter school program whose students are performing at a much higher level than their peers, emphasized the need for standards that are grounded in research and proven effectiveness.

“We need to be careful not to replicate the vast and vague standards we see in too many states.” Levin said. “The standards should be identified based on proven evidence of what is necessary for students to know and do in order to succeed in college and in work.”

Rigorous, common standards will only be effective if they’re part of a larger, systemic approach to significantly improve the nation’s schools.

“We know that standards are critical, but aren’t sufficient on their own. Only a systemic approach will get us where we need to be,” said Governor James B. Hunt, chairman of the James. B. Hunt Institute for Educational leadership and Policy Foundation Board and the former governor of North Carolina.” Standards need to be supported by an integrated system, including curriculum, assessment, instruction, teacher preparation and professional development.”

For more information and to view witness testimony, click here.
 

 

“In light of the staggeringly high dropout rate and growing threats to our nation’s competitiveness, closing the achievement gap and building world-class schools for all students must be a top priority. Overall, this report is further proof that we must do better. While it’s good news that younger students are making meaningful gains in reading and math, it’s deeply troubling that many high school students are not. We must re-double our efforts to ensure that all students, at every age, in every state, get a world-class education that fully prepares them for college and careers. Raising the bar so that all states establish challenging, rigorous standards would be an important step toward this goal.”

This week, the Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing to examine the state-led effort to develop a common core of rigorous, internationally-benchmarked standards to help prepare our students to compete in today’s global economy. To learn more about hearing, click here.

In light of this report, U.S. Rep. George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, announced the committee will hold a hearing on these abuses.

“These abuses are a shocking and disturbing betrayal of the trust that families and communities place in our schools. School administrators and teachers are tasked with providing not just productive and encouraging learning environments for students, but with keeping them safe. It is wholly unacceptable for children to be locked up in closets or for any staff member to use overwhelming – and in some cases deadly – force against their students.

“This report raises serious questions about the treatment of schoolchildren, the qualifications and training of staff, and what actions have been taken to address these unconscionable practices. No child should be at risk or in danger while at school, no matter what the circumstances. Our committee will hold a hearing to look at how we can address and hopefully end these horrific acts."

The report, “School is not supposed to hurt: An investigative report on abusive seclusion and restraint in schools,” provides an unprecedented look at the tactics used to isolate or restrain students. In one case, a seven-year old girl was killed in a special day program when four adult staff pinned her small body face down. The student had been blowing bubbles in her milk and would not follow directions to sit still.  In another example, a thirteen year old boy committed suicide in a locked concrete seclusion room, hanging himself with a cord provided by staff to hold up his pants, after pleading with his teachers that he could not withstand the isolation in the small room for hours at a time.

For a full copy of the report released today, click here.

Investigations conducted by the Government Accountability Office at Miller’s request have uncovered thousands of cases and allegations of child abuse at teen residential treatment programs around the country, including similar abusive uses of seclusion and restraint highlighted by today’s report. In June the House passed legislation authored by Miller and U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), to protect teens attending these programs from physical, mental and sexual abuse. For more information on the bill, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, click here.