Title: An Overview of the No Child Left Behind Act and Practical Implications of Implementation for Pinella
1An Overview of the No Child Left Behind Act and
Practical Implications of Implementation for
Pinellas County Administrators
- Jay P. UrwitzHale and Dorr LLPNovember 22, 2002
2Elementary and Secondary Education Act Overview
and Introduction
- Signed into law January 8, 2002
- Six year reauthorization of ESEA (FY02 FY07)
- New law places new emphases on states and
districts to improve student achievement and
close academic gaps among students of different
racial, economic and ethnic backgrounds
3ESEA Reauthorization New Emphases
- On increased and improved assessment
- On accountability
- On increased inclusion of disabled and limited
English proficiency students - On reporting to parents
- On professional development
- On early reading diagnoses and development
- On technology education initiatives
- On funding flexibility
4ESEA Reauthorization ASSESSMENTS Federal
Support, Eventual Tests in Science, More Frequent
Tests
- 387 million in 2002 appropriations to assist
states in development and administration of
assessments now required. Increasing federal
appropriations are anticipated for each year of
the authorization - Assessments aligned with state content standards
required in reading, mathematics, and beginning
in 2007 science - Administered once or more in grades 3-5 grades
6-9 and grades 10-12 - Assessment against required state content
standards in reading and math also required
yearly in grades 3-8, and at least once in 10-12
beginning in the 2005-2006 school year
5ESEA Reauthorization ASSESSMENTS Technical
Test Requirements
- States select and administer their own tests
- Assessments must be valid and reliable and
consistent with nationally recognized
professional and technical standards
6ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY Measuring
Adequate Yearly Progress
- Tests measure the Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) of each Local Education Agency (LEA) under
a single statewide accountability system.
Different LEAs can use different tests as long as
they can be compared - Each state establishes a definition of AYP to use
each year to determine the achievement of each
LEA and school
7ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY Measuring
Adequate Yearly Progress(contd)
- States identify for improvement any Title I
school that doesnt meet the States definition
of AYP - Designation that a school is in need of
improvement has substantial consequences,
including - Public school choice for students
- Student eligibility to receive supplemental
services - Schools receive technical assistance from the LEA
and must develop two-year improvement plan - Increased funding available for school
improvement from LEA
8ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY School
Improvement Identification
- Each school identified for school improvement
must develop or revise a 2-year school
improvement plan for approval by LEA, in
consultation with parents, staff, local education
agency and other experts - Plan incorporates research-based strategies, a
10 set aside of Title I funds for professional
development, extended learning time as
appropriate (incl. school day or year), and
strategies to promote parental involvement and
new teacher mentoring
9ESEA ReauthorizationDistrict Technical Assistance
- School improvement identification also requires
LEA to provide technical assistance as the school
develops and implements its 2-year improvement
plan - LEA assistance includes identifying
scientifically-based professional development
practices, analyzing assessment data, and
reallocating school budgets
10ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY School
Choice
- Schools that do not make AYP for 2 consecutive
years are required to offer public school choice
to all students in school-improvement schools - Priority is given to the lowest-achieving
children from low-income families - School district must notify parents annually that
their children may transfer schools - LEAs pay for the associated transportation costs
11ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY
Supplemental Services
- If schools do not make AYP for 3 consecutive
years the LEA must make supplemental services
available to ALL students in the school - State identifies the eligible providers and
develops objective criteria for supplemental
services - Parents choose the service providers from state
approved list - LEA notifies parents annually that their children
are eligible for supplemental services
12ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY Corrective
Action
- Schools that do not make AYP for 4 consecutive
years are subject to corrective action by the LEA - Corrective Action includes at least one of the
following activities - Replace school staff
- Implement new curriculum (with professional
development) - Extend school year or school day
- Decrease management authority at school level
- Reorganize the school internally
- Appoint outside expert to advise the school
13ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY
Restructuring
- Schools that do not make AYP for 5 consecutive
years undergo school management and/or governance
restructuring - Restructuring may include reopening the school as
a charter school, replacing all or most of the
school staff relevant to the failure to make AYP,
or turning over school operations either to the
state or to a private company
14ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY
Proficiency on a Timeline
- States must set the AYP definition so that ALL
students are expected to improve annually - System establishes statewide proficiency goals,
based on assessment data from 2001-02 school
year, that incrementally increase to reflect 100
percent proficiency for ALL students by 2013-14 - Increases in proficiency rates must occur for a
school to make AYP
15ESEA Reauthorization ACCOUNTABILITY
Proficiency on a Timeline (contd)
- Intermediate goals are also met
- incremental increases, of equal size, are to be
set across the timeline, the first increase to
occur not later than 2 years after enactment
(2003-04 school year) - each student group must meet them, except that if
the group failed, it will still be considered to
have made adequate yearly progress if the
number of nonproficient students in the subgroup
decreased by 10 from the prior year - The cutoff score established by the state for
each subgroup as the desired objective for that
subgroup must be followed by every LEA
16ESEA Reauthorization NEW EMPHASIS ON INCLUSION
Accommodating Student Groups
- Students with disabilities are to be provided
reasonable adaptations and accommodations to
allow their participation in school-wide
assessments - Specific annual achievement objectives are to be
set for - Limited English proficiency students
- Major ethnic/racial groups
- Economically disadvantaged students
- Students with disabilities
- Testing results are to be disaggregated to show
results of each group above, as well as of each
gender and migrants
17ESEA Reauthorization NEW EMPHASIS ON INCLUSION
English Proficiency
- Title III funding for dual-language instructional
programs by LEAs to assure that limited English
proficiency students attain English proficiency
and Title I aligned state academic standards - 665 million allotted for FY2002
- Formula grants are available to States based on
the States share of limited English proficient
and recent immigrant students. - States make competitive subgrants to LEAs based
on its share of the limited English proficient
student population. States can reserve up to 15
of the funds for LEAs that have experienced
significant increases in the percentage or number
of immigrant students or that have limited
experience in serving immigrant students - If appropriation less than 650 million then
funding formulas are similar to those used
before NCLB implementation --funding through
approx. 13 grant programs
18ESEA Reauthorization NEW EMPHASIS ON INCLUSION
English Proficiency
- Children who have been in the U.S. for three or
more consecutive years must take annual
assessment in English in accordance with Title I - States must also hold subgrantees accountable for
making AYP and meeting all Title I aligned annual
achievement objectives for limited English
proficient students
19ESEA Reauthorization REPORTING Results of an
Assessment
- New requirement As soon as is practicably
possible after the assessment is given, a school
must provide parents, teachers, and principals an
individualized report, that - is in an understandable and uniform format, in a
language that parents understand (to the extent
practicable) - informs parents of the students level of
achievement reached, according to state
standards, on each required assessment - is interpretive, descriptive and diagnostic
- is capable of interpretation by itemized score
analyses, to reveal specific student needs as
indicated by particular assessment items
20ESEA Reauthorization REPORTING Results of an
Assessment (contd)
- allows parents and teachers to extrapolate to
understand and address specific areas of academic
need - includes information regarding how the school has
performed compared to the LEA overall and the
state overall - New requirement Cumulative and individual
results on any assessment must be provided, at
the latest, to schools and teachers before the
beginning of the next school year
21ESEA Reauthorization REPORTING Annual State
Report Card
- State required to produce an annual report card,
beginning in 2002 school year - Includes
- aggregate information on student achievement at
each proficiency level, disaggregated by race,
ethnicity, gender, disability status, migrant
status, English proficiency, and status as
economically disadvantaged - a comparison of the actual achievement of each
group as against the state assessment objectives
for each - percent of students not tested
22ESEA Reauthorization REPORTING Annual State
Report Card (contd)
- graduation rates for secondary schools
- individual LEA performance against state timeline
progress standards and the number and names of
schools identified for school improvement - a breakdown of teacher credentials, showing the
number of classes and their location in low or
high poverty areas being taught by highly
qualified teachers versus teachers on provisional
credentials - Distributed directly to all schools and parents
of students and posted on the internet or in
other media - States provide the report cards to the Secretary
of Education
23ESEA Reauthorization REPORTING Annual LEA
Report Card
- LEAs also publish annual district report cards,
beginning in 2002 school year - Includes
- how a schools students performed on the
statewide assessments compared to the rest of the
state - whether the local school made adequate yearly
progress, or is identified for improvement - the number and percentage of local schools
identified for improvement - Distributed directly to all schools and parents
of students and posted on the internet or in
other media
24ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Professional Development and Specialized
Assistance - Funding increased in this area by 35 in FY2002,
from 2.108 billion to 2.850 billion - LEAs have more flexibility in the use of its
Title II (Preparing, Training and Recruiting High
Quality Teachers and Principal) funds - States must allocate 95 of their Title II funds
to local school districts and 2.5 to higher
education partnerships
25ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Definition of highly qualified teacher requires
that every public school teacher must have - Obtained the full state certification as teachers
(incl. alternative certification) or passed state
licensing exam - Hold a license to teach in a state
- Not had a certification or licensure requirement
waived on an emergency, temporary or provisional
basis
26ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- ESEA requires all teachers to be "highly
qualified" by the end of 2005-2006, and all new
Title I teachers to be highly qualified upon
hiring - New teachers must hold a bachelors degree and
demonstrate subject matter competence by passing
a state subject matter test or have the
equivalent of an undergraduate major, graduate
degree or advanced certification in their
respective fields
27ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Veteran teachers must hold a bachelors
degree, be licensed by the state and meet the
same requirements for new teachers or demonstrate
competence based on a states uniform standard of
evaluation
28ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Paraprofessionals
- Paraprofessional Requirements
- All Title I paraprofessionals hired after Jan. 8,
2002 must - Have completed at least 2 years of college
- Obtained an associates (or higher) degree or
- Pass formal state or local evaluation
- Title I paraprofessionals hired before Jan. 8,
2002 must meet these requirements in 4 years - All Title I paraprofessionals, regardless of
hiring date, must have a high school diploma or
its equivalent
29ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Paraprofessionals
- Paraprofessional qualification can be established
by state or local evaluation. LEAs develop local
evaluations if the State does not establish
assessments - The evaluation does not need to be a paper and
pencil test but there must be evidence that the
evaluation is valid and reliable. Assessment
results must be documented - The assessment should be objective and rigorous.
It should allow a candidate to demonstrate their
knowledge and ability to assist in instructing,
reading, writing and math or their knowledge and
ability in instructing reading readiness, writing
readiness and math readiness, as appropriate
30ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
- Local school districts can use their Title II
funds for one or more of 10 permitted activities,
which include - Hiring highly qualified teachers
- Providing merit pay
- Providing professional development for teachers,
principals and paraprofessionals - Reforming tenure systems
31ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Rewarding Teachers
- New emphasis in the law on advanced credentialing
for teachers and recruiting and remunerating
highly qualified teachers - Other goals include special expertise in core
academic subjects, instruction of students with
special learning needs, and use of technology and
assessment tools - Financial awards given to teachers in schools
showing significant gains in academic
achievement, from reserved federal funds held by
each state, making test results personally
important
32ESEA ReauthorizationPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
School Leadership Program
- New Title II discretionary grant program that
supports efforts to recruit, retain and provide
training and continuing prof. dvpt. to principals
and asst. principals - 10 million awarded competitively in 2002 by the
Dept. of Education to high-need school districts,
consortia of high-need school districts, and
partnerships of high-need school districts,
nonprofit orgs., and higher education
institutions - Activities include providing financial
incentives to aspiring new principals, providing
stipends to principals who mentor new principals,
and providing prof. dvpt. in leadership and
management
33ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRST Purpose
- Aimed at assuring childrens reading ability by
3rd grade - Emphasis on
- formulating reading curricula on scientific
principles - augmenting professional development programs to
assure well-qualified teachers, technically
trained in reading instruction
34ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRST Purpose
(contd)
- procuring effective and innovative reading
materials, including technology products - employing diagnostics
- providing for intervention when a child falls
behind
35ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRST Funding and
Procedure
- 900 million for block grants to States in 2002
based on the numbers of families below the
poverty line in each State - LEAs get 80 of each States funds via
competitive subgrants for reading improvement
programs - LEAs must spend funds for
- selecting and administering diagnostic
evaluations
36ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRST Funding and
Procedure (contd)
- selecting and implementing a reading curriculum
that is scientifically based and targets children
at risk of reading difficulties and others facing
reading skills obstacles - procuring instructional materials and
technologies - providing professional development, including
training in the use of assessments
37ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRSTLocally
Funded Activities
- Florida will receive 46.5 million in funding
this year and stands to receive approximately
300 million over six years in Reading First
block grants - Florida intends to begin making sub-grant awards
totaling 36.5 million to eligible school
districts in March 2003
38ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRSTFLA
Professional Development Activities
- The State Dept. of Ed will implement state-wide
professional development programs, including the
creation of the Reading Leadership Triangle, an
alliance between the Florida Dept. of Ed.,
Florida State Univ. and Univ. of Central Florida - Schools receiving Reading First funds will also
be provided with district level coaches for
ongoing professional development - K-3 teachers and K-12 special education teachers
will be invited to attend four day Reading First
academies next summer
39ESEA Reauthorization READING FIRST Overall
Assessment Requisites
- Overall, LEAs must formulate reading strategies
and activities and choose required reading
assessments under this program that - are based on scientifically based reading
research with research showing results - are grounded in and can evaluate the essential
components of reading instructionphonemic
awareness (including how sounds are connected to
letters), vocabulary development, reading
fluency, and reading comprehension - No preference by Department of Education in
choice of reading materials or assessments. They
simply must meet statutory criteria
40READING FIRST State Involvement in Assessment
Choice and Provision of Funds
- States provide assistance in identifying the
formats for assessments and the types of
instructional materials an LEA might consider,
and states must evaluate the compliance of the
LEAs with Reading First goals and their
effectiveness - States are directed to distribute subgrant monies
to LEAs in amounts related to the number or
percentage of students K-3 reading below grade
level. This number has been identified by the
initial eligibility assessment undertaken by the
LEA - States can further require such information in
the subgrant application as they may elect
41ESEA Reauthorization EARLY READINGProgram Focus
- Purpose is to encourage the skills for optimal
reading development in preschool age children - Language activities for preschoolers must be
based on scientifically based reading research - Focused on phonemics, stressing letter sound
recognition and an understanding of written
language as composed of phonemes and letters that
comprise words - Screening assessments are stressed to assure
identification of preschoolers at risk for
reading failure - Funding is competitive 75 million has been
appropriated for the 2002 fiscal year
42ESEA Reauthorization EARLY READINGGrant
Requirements
- LEAs and private public organizations apply
directly to Secretary of Education for
competitive grants - Eligibility is based on affiliation or
collaboration with a school having many below
grade level readers (as defined under the Reading
First grant program) or with a community in need
served by one of the Reading First-eligible
schools - Thus, preschools applying under this program are
piggy-backing on the testing already done at
local schools, administered for qualification for
Reading First funding
43ESEA Reauthorization TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
INITIATIVES
- States must distribute 95 of block grant funds
to districts 50 via formula and 50 via
competitive grants - 700,500,000 available in FY02
- Districts must use at least 25 of their funds
for professional development in technology
(unless a waiver is granted). These activities
include - Accessing data to develop curricular and
instructional materials - Enabling teachers to use the internet and other
technology to communicate with parents and other
educators - Enabling teachers to retrieve internet-based
learning resources
44ESEA Reauthorization TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
INITIATIVES
- Districts may use their remaining allocation to
purchase hardware, develop or purchase electronic
learning programs, expand initiatives to increase
access, and provide training courses to train
master technology teachers - Other programs including the Early Reading,
Reading First, Safe and Drug Free Schools,
Charter Schools and 21st Century Schools Programs
also allow funds to be used for technology
45ESEA Reauthorization21st Century Community
Learning Grants
- 21st Century Community Learning Center Program
- Converted into a state formula grant program.
States make competitive subgrants to LEAs,
community-based organizations, or consortia of
LEAs and other public or private organizations - 2002 Appropriations 1 billion
- Purpose of program is to provide expanded
academic enrichment opportunities for children
attending low performing schools. All services
occur during non-school hours
46ESEA ReauthorizationTransferability of Funds
- LEAs have new flexibility to transfer funds among
the following four allocations - Teacher Quality State Grants
- State and Local Technology Grants
- Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities
- Parental Choice and Innovative Programs
- LEAs may transfer up to 50 of its formula
allocation in each program to supplement its
allocation under any of the programs listed above
or under Part A of Title I
47ESEA ReauthorizationTransferability of Funds
- Transferability Requirements for LEAs
- Notify SEA at least 30 days prior to the transfer
of the LEAs intent to transfer funds - Modify each local plan affected by the transfer
- Provide the SEA a copy of the modified plan
within 30 days after the transfer - Conduct consultations in accordance with Sec.
9501 of the ESEA (participation of private school
teachers in programs provided under Improving
Teacher Quality State Grants) to provide for the
equitable participation of private school
students and staff
48ESEA ReauthorizationPublic Charter School Program
- Dept. of Education awards competitive grants to
both states and individual charter schools under
the Public Charter School Program - SEAs make competitive grants to individual
charter schools in order to implement or plan a
new charter school - LEAs can no longer withhold administrative fees
from a charter school unless the charter school
enters into a voluntary arrangement to receive
administrative services from the LEA
49THE BATTLE OVER THE BUDGET
50EDUCATION BUDGET COMPARING THE NUMBERS
- Senate Appropriations Committee passed its FY2003
budget plan on July 25, 2002. It provides nearly
3 billion more than the Administrations request
for the Dept of Education but most is for higher
education - The House has yet to take any action on the
Departments appropriation
51EDUCATION BUDGET COMPARING THE NUMBERS
52QUESTIONS?
- Jay P. Urwitz
- Hale and Dorr LLPjay.urwitz_at_haledorr.comTelephon
e 202-942-8464