At what was likely his last press conference of the year, President Bush issued a word of warning to Congress on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) – “I'll veto any attempt to weaken it.”

This latest threat comes on the heels of several White House successes, including forcing Congress to adhere to the president’s budget demands, in addition to recently forcing passage of a pared down bill to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Bush’s concerns largely center on the issues of multiple measures, school choice, supplementary educational services, and the 2014 deadline for 100% student proficiency. To view in-depth information on Bush’s priorities and positions on NCLB reauthorization, please visit www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/nclb/buildingonresults.pdf.

Despite his warning, Bush stated at the press conference that reauthorization of NCLB is an area where he and the Democratically-controlled Congress can “work together… to strengthen [NCLB],” and that bipartisan talks between the White House and education leaders in Congress have already begun.

Regardless of whether or not Bush is willing to compromise with Democrats, reauthorizing major education legislation may be a hard hurdle to clear in 2008. The presidential and congressional elections will likely distract lawmakers and make bipartisan negotiations difficult as each party attempts to win or maintain control of Congress.

Reauthorizing NCLB remains a key priority for NASSP. Throughout 2007 we have advocated for intelligent education reform and are pleased that many of our legislative recommendations were included in the discussion draft circulated by House Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller (D-CA).

In the coming year we will continue to engage lawmakers, pushing them to enact legislation that improves the health and achievement of all students. To view NASSP’s legislative recommendations for NCLB reauthorization, please visit www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec_inside.asp?CID=31&DID=31. We also encourage you to visit our Principal’s Legislative Action Center (PLAC) at www.principals.org/plac for more information about federal legislation.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After approving a Senate amendment to provide an additional $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the House gave final approval to the FY 2008 omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2764) on December 19. President Bush has indicated he will likely sign the bill into law.

The omnibus measure consolidates the 11 remaining appropriations bills (including the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill) and contains approximately $144.8 billion in discretionary spending for LHHSE programs (about $5.6 billion less than the bill vetoed by Bush in November), with an overall funding level of about $933 billion, meeting Bush’s top line budget demands.

After a failed attempt to override Bush’s veto of the original LHHSE bill (H.R. 3043), Democrats realized that they would have to significantly reduce their proposed funding levels, and were forced to implement an across-the-board cut of over 1.7%, in addition to several program-specific cuts to meet Bush’s budget demands. See the table below for a summary of how key federal education programs fared:

Throughout the appropriations process NASSP has fought hard to substantially increase education funding. While we are concerned that several programs received cuts and some increases did not keep pace with inflation, we are pleased that Congress was able to avoid passing another long-term continuing resolution, which would have held education programs at their FY 2007 levels.

We are hopeful that the picture for next year can be brighter and are already working to increase education funding for FY 2009.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Despite controversy and low approval ratings, President Bush has once again proven that he wields considerable power and influence on Capitol Hill. Bush recently issued his second veto of a bill to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), leaving Congressional Democrats scrambling to approve a short-term extension (S. 2499) before the program expires on December 21. The House and Senate cleared the bill before the winter recess, and Bush is expected to sign it into law.

Democrats had originally envisioned a comprehensive bill that would have expanded the program by $35 billion over five years to cover an estimated 10 million children. The new bill is a barebones package that merely extends the program through March 31, 2009, and provides enough funding to cover current enrollment.

The downsized bill and 2009 expiration date have been the cause of heartburn for some Democrats, who had hoped to make a longer-term reauthorization of SCHIP an election year issue.

Some lawmakers have tried to see the silver lining in the clouds however. “This package… tells states what they need to know for the year ahead as they administer the children’s health insurance programs that low income families with children rely on,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “The longer extension of SCHIP will allow Congress to enter the new year with a renewed focus on reauthorization while also providing funding certainty to states.”

As a long-time supporter of expanded health care for America’s children, NASSP is disappointed that lawmakers and the president could not enact a comprehensive SCHIP reauthorization bill. However, we are pleased that Congress has ensured that the nearly 6 million children currently insured under the SCHIP program continue to receive health care services.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Final results: 

What strategy would work best to retain principals in high-need schools?

18%   Financial bonuses for improved test scores
43%   Increased central office support and resources
33%   Flexibility/Waivers from district/union policies
6%   Other

Total Votes: 204

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A study of Maryland principal retention revealed an alarming, though not unfamiliar, reality: The poorest and lowest-performing schools have the least-experienced principals and struggle with high turnover in leadership. The study sparks an interesting conversation about what it might take to keep good principals in high-need schools. More money? More resources? More support? One Denver middle school principal has an answer and was courageous enough to turn the idea into a proposal to improve her school by reducing onerous restictions from the district and the teachers' union.

Comment below on the results of the poll.

Posted by Bob Farrace at 03:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

President Bush issued his second veto of a bill (H.R. 3963) to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) on December 12.

The bill would have expanded the program by $35 billion over five years and increased the income eligibility cap to 300% of the federal poverty line to cover an estimated 10 million children.

The bill would have also prevented the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from issuing a rule to eliminate Medicaid reimbursements for school transportation and administrative costs. As a result of the veto however, CMS may issue such a rule any day now. In response, Rep. John Boozman (R-AR) recently introduced a bill that would prevent CMS from implementing a rule to eliminate these reimbursements for one year.

Time is quickly dwindling for Congress to take action however. Lawmakers are eager to get out of Washington by the end of the week and already have a full slate of legislation, including consideration of an omnibus appropriations bill to fund government programs for FY 2008.

Long-term reauthorization of SCHIP remains uncertain as well. A short term extension of the program was approved as part of the most recent appropriations continuing resolution (CR). However, the current CR expires on December 21, meaning lawmakers will have to work hard to produce a bipartisan reauthorization bill on the eve of an election year.

Sources close to discussions on the Hill report that a stand-alone SCHIP extension bill is currently being written, with plans to fast track the legislation through Congress in time for a December 21 recess. The new bill will not likely contain the same funding levels and expanded coverage present in prior versions.

NASSP is a long-time supporter of expanded health care coverage for America’s children and has been actively advocating for a comprehensive SCHIP reauthorization bill.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

President Bush signed another continuing resolution (CR) into law on December 14, securing funding for government programs at FY 2007 levels until December 21.

This latest CR marks the third time Congress has had to enact such a measure since the current fiscal year began on October 1, and its short duration – only 7 days – signals that Congress may be nearing an end in the long road to pass the FY 2008 appropriations bills.

Congress is currently working on an omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2764) that consolidates the 11 remaining appropriations bills (including the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill). The House is expected to pass this bill as early as December 17, with a vote expected in the Senate soon thereafter.

The omnibus bill contains approximately $144.8 billion in discretionary spending for LHHSE programs (about $5.6 billion less than the bill vetoed by Bush in November), with an overall funding level of about $933 billion, meeting Bush’s top line budget demands. Nonetheless, Bush has not yet stated whether or not he will sign the bill.

NASSP is keeping an eye on this important issue, and will post updates as they become available.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Under mounting pressure from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, educators are struggling to find better ways to help all students reach their full potential. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a new and growing movement that focuses on maximizing learning by engaging the different learning styles of students.

Because UDL is still a new movement, its use remains scattered throughout the United States. A recent summit was held in Washington, DC to discuss the challenges facing UDL as it attempts to increase in scale.

Among the challenges faced by the movement are: the core competencies of UDL are still not identified; educators must be convinced that UDL is not just another fad; and there is limited research and evidence on the actual effectiveness of UDL instruction and materials.

Participants at the summit made a number of suggestions for how these challenges can be overcome, including: creating model pilot programs to demonstrate the scalability of UDL; conducting a campaign and offering trainings to inform educators about UDL and what implementation looks like; and increasing funding for research on the effectiveness of UDL.

A Primer on UDL
UDL is a framework for teaching and learning that draws upon knowledge of how the brain works and relies on three principles to guide teaches as they use technology and other means to reach students with different learning styles, such as those with disabilities, or learning English. The three principles are:
 Provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation that give students various ways to acquire information
 Provide multiple, flexible methods of expression that offer students alternatives for demonstrating what they know
 Provide multiple, flexible options for engagement to help students become interested in learning, be challenged, and stay motivated

For more information on UDL, including how to obtain curriculum resources and model lessons, please visit www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent.

NASSP supports the concept of UDL and has worked with several other prominent national organizations to encourage the U.S. Department of Education to provide a toolkit to educators on the use and integration of UDL and technology in schools.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 03:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has increased the focus on reading and mathematics, with a documented crowding out of time for other subjects. But does more time spent on mathematics really increase student achievement?

A report recently released by the Brown Center on Education Policy discovered that by adding ten minutes of math instruction to each day, eighth graders in industrialized nations increased their math scores by an average of 19 points on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Not all nations experienced this trend however. While the United States decreased its average instructional math time from 49 minutes in 1995 to 45 minutes in 2003, it saw an increase in its TIMSS scores. Additionally, both Sweden and Norway increased instruction time in mathematics, but saw a drop in their TIMSS scores.

In light of these exceptions, there is a strong relationship between instruction time and math scores.

Tom Loveless, author of the report and director of the Brown Center, cautions that this relationship should not be taken too far and states that an indefinite increase in instruction time would not likely result in an indefinite increase in math scores.

Are NAEP’s Proficiency Cut Scores Too High?
The report also examined whether the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) might be painting a false picture of American students by setting “proficiency” cut scores too high.

The report explained that if other industrialized nations were to take the mathematics portion of the NAEP, most would fail to achieve “proficiency” status, and none would make “advanced,” NAEP’s highest achievement level. As an example, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan – some of the nations that scored highest on international tests – would have 25 to 50% of their students failing to meet NAEP’s proficiency threshold.

The report pointed out that the 2004 Brown Center Report on American Education revealed that the eighth grade NAEP mathematics test covers low-level content that is typically covered by the end of third grade. As a result “the most plausible explanation for low proficiency rates is that NAEP’s designers have over-compensated for the low level of the test content by ratcheting up the complexity of the test questions and the level of the cut scores… [Thus] scoring at the proficient level proves only that students have aced a test that poses tricky questions about simple content,” according to the press release accompanying the report.

Assessing student content knowledge is complex business, and the Brown Center report highlights the dangers of reducing assessment to a single test taken at a single point in time.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

How accurately do international tests like PISA reflect U.S. students' ability to compete globally?

5% Very accurately
37% Somewhat accurately
28% Somewhat inaccurately
30% Not at all accurately

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The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international group that represents 30 of the world's wealthiest nations, recently released the results of the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a trienniel test of 15-year olds in math and science (and reading, but this year's tests were misprinted).

The bottom line: 16 nations scored better than the United States in science, and we trailed 23 other nations in math. The message of these data: Finland and Estonia are going to eat our lunch!

Or perhaps you see a different message. Check out the Principal's Poll at www.principals.org to offer your opinion of how accurately such international comparisons as PISA reflect U.S. students' ability to complete in a global marketplace. Be sure to leave your comments below.

Posted by Bob Farrace at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

An unlimited number of states are now eligible for participation in the growth model pilot program, according to a December 7 announcement by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Prior to this announcement, the program had been limited to ten slots, of which nine had been filled by Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee.

“A growth model is a way for states that are raising achievement and following the bright-line principles of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to strengthen accountability,” Spellings said. “I believe that extending the growth model pilot for the 2007-2008 school year will promote two important goals. It will allow states another effective way of measuring adequate yearly progress (AYP) by measuring individual student growth over time, and it will continue to expand the flexibility available to states under No Child Left Behind.”

In response to the program’s expansion, Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and a chief author of the House proposal to reauthorize NCLB, issued the following statement:

“Schools should receive the credit they deserve for the yearly achievement gains made by their students. As part of our efforts to improve No Child Left Behind, we have proposed allowing all states to develop and use growth models – a proposal that we believe is essential to providing states and schools with much-needed flexibility and fairness. I welcome Secretary Spellings’ announcement as confirmation of our proposal.”

NASSP applauds the decision to expand the pilot program. In our legislative recommendations for No Child Left Behind, we recommend that states calculate AYP on the basis of state-developed growth formulas and have worked with a diverse array of education associations to advance this goal. We believe the most accurate measures of student and school performance are those that analyze progress from year to year, and were very pleased to see growth models included in the House discussion draft to reauthorize NCLB.

The Bush Administration and Democratic leadership in Congress are currently at loggerheads on a number of issues, yet the expansion of the pilot program is demonstrative of the fact that there are areas of agreement between these two. While Congress will not likely vote to reauthorize NCLB this year, perhaps this means there is hope in 2008.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is designed to assist students in high poverty schools, yet high-poverty schools actually received less Title I funds than did low-poverty schools in 2004-05 according to the National Assessment of Title I. This comes at a time in which the number of students participating in the Title I program has tripled since 1994-95, and in light of the fact that funding for Title I, Part A has increased by 35% over the past seven years.

Despite these facts, the percentage of students achieving at or above the state’s proficient level rose for most student subgroups in a majority of states that had three-year trend data available on their reading and math assessments. Additionally, based on state assessments and data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the achievement gap between poor, minority, and other students appears to be closing. Yet, based on trend data for 36 states, most states are unlikely to meet the goal of 100% proficiency by 2013-14 if student achievement gains continue at their current pace.

School Improvement Activities
In 2005-06, 84% of all schools identified for improvement received Title I funds. Surprisingly, nearly a quarter of principals and 30% of teachers in identified schools were not aware that their school had been identified as in need of improvement, according to the report.

Schools identified for improvement are required to offer students the choice of transferring to another public school in the first year of improvement status and supplementary education services (SES) in the second year. The report found that participation in school choice had more than doubled from 2002-03 to 2004-05, and participation in SES had increased by more than ten-fold.

Despite the apparent interest in these programs, a survey of eligible parents in eight urban school districts found that only 27% of parents had been notified of their child’s eligibility for public school choice, and only 53% said they had been notified that their child was eligible for SES. Moreover, as of early 2005, none of the states had finalized standards for evaluating the effectiveness of SES providers, although several were in the process of doing so.

Teacher Quality and Professional Development
The report found that students in schools identified for improvement were more likely to be taught by teachers who said they were not highly qualified than were students in non-identified schools. Additionally, 42% of secondary English teachers, and 54% of secondary math teachers reported participating in five hours or less of professional development over the 2003-04 school year and summer.

“This report confirms what we already know about the core requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) - states have made tremendous progress in meeting the goals of the law, but to ensure every student is achieving on grade level by 2013-14, we must accelerate our efforts to improve student achievement,” said U.S. Education Press Secretary Samara Yudof in a press release.

“The report points to areas that require much more work, such as stagnant high school achievement, achievement gaps not closing fast enough and too few students receiving free tutoring. These issues demand a bipartisan approach to the reauthorization of NCLB that asks more of us as a nation, not less. If we are to reach our goals, Congress should act now,” Yudof continued.

The National Assessment of Title I is a congressionally-mandated, longitudinal report required under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The report examines the uses and characteristics of schools and students receiving Title I funds, and attempts to evaluate the implementation and impact of the program. To view the report in its entirety, please visit http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20084012.

Posted by Mark Ames, NASSP Gov't Relations Mgr at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Although pay-for-performance plans for teachers are getting all the headlines, there is a growing interest in creating similar systems for principals. But research about the plans that may or may not already be in place is greatly lacking, according to a report released in December by the Center for American Progress.

Principal Compensation notes that “there is currently no principal equivalent to the information that can be garnered from the U.S. Department of Education’s Schools and Staffing Survey, which asks detailed questions of school districts about their teacher policies.” The only relevant question the survey asks of principals is “What is your current annual salary for your position at this school before taxes and deductions?” In addition, the Educational Research Service’s National Survey of Salaries and Wages in Public Schools reports on the average salary of principals but does not indicate if principals are compensated for boosting student achievement, increasing their knowledge and skills, or serving in hard-to-staff schools.

Before Congress and state legislatures move forward on creating performance-based compensation systems for principals, the report offers the following recommendations:

• Collect more detailed data on principal compensation
• Experiment with principal compensation structures in order to figure out what works
• Develop model principal pay programs to make reform more accessible to districts
• Provide federal, state, and private funding for principal pay initiatives

Posted by Amanda Karhuse at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

U.S. News and World Report magazine entered the school-ranking game with the release of its first ranking of "America's Best High Schools." It didn't take long for Jay Mathews, the Washington Post education reporter who for 10 years has held the monopoly on U.S. high school rankings, to release his reaction to the U.S. News list. So what do practitioners think? The poll is closed, but leave your comments below.

Posted by Bob Farrace at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Bob Farrace at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)