Feingold to introduce Teachers at the Table Act
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) has introduced the Teachers at the Table Act of 2007, a bill that would create a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to advise Congress and the Department of Education on the impact of No Child Left Behind on students, their families, and the classroom learning environment.
This legislation is the Senate companion to the Teachers at the Table Act introduced by Representatives Carolyn McCarthy and Lee Terry in the House and is fully paid for through offsets.
Feingold holds listening sessions in each of Wisconsin’s 72 counties every year, and education has consistently been one of the top issues he hears about throughout Wisconsin. Feedback on No Child Left Behind and the law’s implementation from Wisconsin’s educators, administrators, and parents has been invaluable to Senator Feingold over the past five years. Establishment of this advisory committee would provide nationwide feedback from some of America’s best teachers on NCLB’s impact in our nation’s classrooms.
Feingold’s legislation contains the following provisions:
- Directs the Secretary of Education to establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to monitor the effects of No Child Left Behind in classrooms.
- Specifies that the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee be comprised of past or present Teachers of the Year who have submitted a competitive application to the Department of Education.
- States that the focus of the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee’s work will be solely on the impact of NCLB on children and families.
- States that the Secretary of Education, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the minority leader of the House shall each pick four members to serve on the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee from the Teachers of the Year who submitted applications to the Department of Education.
- Mandates that the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee shall represent diverse and multiple geographic regions, grade levels, and specialty areas.
- Requires the Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to submit annual reports to Congress and the Secretary of Education on NCLB’s impact on students and their families.
Improving Student Testing Act of 2007
Feingold also will be introducing the Improving Student Testing Act of 2007, a bill that will make changes to the No Child Left Behind Act to improve the quality of education assessments used in our schools and support innovative state and local school reform efforts. The legislation is fully paid for through offsets.
Feingold’s legislation contains the following provisions:
- Reforming NCLB’s focus on high-stakes testing – Encourages states and local districts to move away from using high-stakes standardized testing as the primary measurement of academic achievement in school accountability decisions. The bill provides competitive grant funds for states and local districts encouraging the creation of higher-quality, authentic measurements of student performance. The legislation also provides states and local districts with flexibility to use high-quality multiple measures of assessment in state testing and accountability systems.
- Reforming testing mandates – Promotes state and local control over decisions affecting children’s day-to-day classroom experiences, including the frequency and use of high-stakes standardized testing. The bill reforms the federal testing mandate to allow annual assessments at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12, instead of the current requirement for annual testing in grades 3-8 and once in high school.
- Revising the one-size-fits all adequate yearly progress model – Provides flexibility for states to develop alternative accountability models. One example of such models includes growth models, which allow schools to better ensure that each student, regardless of his or her current academic level, continues to make academic progress.
- Addressing the 2014 deadline – Reforms the 2014 deadline by putting in place a funding trigger that waives the 2014 deadline for any year that Congress does not fully fund Title I, Part A.
- Improving the Department of Education’s peer review process – Makes changes to the department’s peer review process to ensure that states have the ability to interact directly with peer review teams. The bill also encourages more consistent decision-making from state to state during the federal peer review process of state testing and accountability systems.
- Disaggregating graduation rates – Requires states to disaggregate graduation rates by NCLB’s student subgroups, including economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency.
- Encouraging capacity building – Creates a competitive and flexible grant program to provide funds for states and local districts to help build their infrastructure and capacity. Increased access to federal funding for capacity building will help encourage states to develop better assessment and accountability systems including using multiple measures of assessment and growth models.
- Improving privacy protections – Includes important measures to help ensure the privacy of personal information contained in state education data systems.
OnWEAC Resource Page on 'No Child Left Behind'
Posted September 13, 2007; updated October 1, 2007
