S. 1775 would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that no child is left behind.
Detailed Summary
No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to revise programs created or amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and reauthorize them through FY2013.
Permits states to: (1) use alternate academic achievement standards for disabled students; (2) incorporate student academic growth into calculations of adequate yearly progress (AYP); and (3) determine AYP for limited English proficient (LEP) students by excluding new arrivals and including former LEP students. Increases funds available for teaching, and developing enhanced assessments for, disabled and LEP children.
Sets forth the method of calculating high school graduation rates, which shall factor into AYP determinations.
Requires placing schools on academic alert status if they fail to make AYP for one year. Requires that academic alert schools develop school improvement plans for immediate implementation if such failure continues the following year. Makes students eligible for supplemental educational services when their schools are identified as needing improvement after a second consecutive year of AYP failure.
Differentiates the reforms for schools needing focused restructuring and those needing comprehensive restructuring on the basis of whether a failing student subgroup includes less or more than one-half of the student body, respectively. Allows local educational agencies (LEAs) to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements with teachers from schools that need restructuring.
Increases the funds available to LEAs for providing incentives to highly qualified teachers to teach at high-need schools.
Requires states and LEAs receiving funds for teacher training and recruitment to identify and target LEAs and schools that have the most acute teacher quality and staffing needs.
Establishes: (1) the Striving Readers grant program targeting middle- and high-school students reading below grade level; (2) the Math Now grant program targeting kindergarten through grade nine students whose mathematics achievement is significantly below grade level; (3) the Teacher Incentive Fund program to develop or expand comprehensive performance-based compensation systems for teachers and principals, especially those in high-need schools; (4) the Adjunct Teachers Corps for professionals and individuals with subject-matter expertise to teach secondary school courses in core subjects; (5) mentoring grant programs under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program; (6) the Education Flexibility Partnership program providing states and LEAs with waivers of federal and state statutory and regulatory requirements to assist them in making educational reforms; and (7) the Child-Centered program, providing incentive grants to states and LEAs that allow title I school-improvement funds to follow children to the public school of their choice.
Replaces the School Dropout Prevention program with the Secondary School Graduation grant program, to identify and provide remedial education to at-risk students, prepare students for college, and offer them work-based and experiential learning experiences.
Revises requirements for grants for Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native education.
Amends the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to reauthorize, through FY2013, the grant program for educating homeless children.
Status of the Legislation
Latest Major Action: 7/12/2007: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Points in Favor
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Points Against
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Visitor Comments
Tom Pierce
The No Child Left Behind Bill is not about improving basic education across the nation. What it is doing is setting Qualitative Milestones that really don't improve the overall quality of education. In fact it's using standardized testing as method of developing a semi-quantitative method of measuring educational achievement
What it is doing is developing financial penalties for schools that can't meet milestones being developed by the No Child Left Behind Act. It does not improve the overall quality of education.
There is a basic pattern of learning that is overlooked by the No Child Left Behind Act.
Individual abilities vary in the diverse areas of learning. The No Child Left Behind Act fails to examine the overall learning process. It tries to pigeon hole education process.