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                                                      PRINTER'S NO. 1270

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


SENATE RESOLUTION

No. 141 Session of 2007


        INTRODUCED BY MUSTO, BOSCOLA, FERLO, LAVALLE, DINNIMAN, KITCHEN,
           ERICKSON, WASHINGTON, FONTANA, KASUNIC, STOUT, MELLOW, COSTA,
           LOGAN, O'PAKE, GREENLEAF, HUGHES, WOZNIAK, STACK,
           C. WILLIAMS, TARTAGLIONE AND RHOADES, JUNE 30, 2007

        REFERRED TO EDUCATION, JUNE 30, 2007

                                  A RESOLUTION

     1  Memorializing the President and Congress of the United States,
     2     in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act of
     3     2001, to address funding issues, teacher certification
     4     issues, issues regarding certain disadvantaged students and
     5     reliability of present assessment standards.

     6     WHEREAS, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
     7  (ESEA) - No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was signed into
     8  law on January 8, 2002, and is currently under review for
     9  reauthorization; and
    10     WHEREAS, States have now had six years of experience
    11  responding to the law's sweeping changes in Federal education
    12  policy; and
    13     WHEREAS, Although the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania supports
    14  rigorous standards for its public schools, assessment of school
    15  achievement, raising student achievement, closing achievement
    16  gaps and ensuring that every classroom is staffed by a highly
    17  qualified teacher, its experience with NCLB has revealed several
    18  major deficiencies in the law; therefore be it


     1     RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     2  memorialize the President and Congress of the United States to
     3  enact legislative improvements during ESEA - NCLB
     4  reauthorization to rectify the following deficiencies:
     5         (1)  All NCLB programs must be funded at their authorized
     6     levels. NCLB has imposed additional costs on the Commonwealth
     7     of Pennsylvania and its local school districts for staff
     8     development, meeting expanded certification requirements for
     9     teachers and paraprofessionals, additional testing,
    10     additional data collection, public school choice-related
    11     transportation, supplemental education services and
    12     additional school improvement programs and has placed
    13     burdensome mandates on teachers and support professionals
    14     that prevent them from delivering a comprehensive and
    15     rigorous curriculum to all students. At the same time,
    16     Federal funding for Title I between 2002 and 2005 fell $21.4
    17     billion short of the NCLB authorization levels. This lack of
    18     funding has made it difficult, and in some cases, impossible
    19     for Pennsylvania to meet all NCLB requirements.
    20         (2)  The definition of "highly qualified teacher" must be
    21     simplified. Fulfillment of all State requirements for
    22     certification should be considered sufficient to meet the
    23     Federal standard--95%, or some 93,226, of the Commonwealth of
    24     Pennsylvania's teachers were deemed highly qualified at the
    25     end of the 2005-2006 school year. This is because
    26     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's teacher preparation programs
    27     are among the most rigorous in the United States.
    28     Certification in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires
    29     individuals to meet high standards and complete a rigorous
    30     and thorough course of study and all graduates must also
    20070S0141R1270                  - 2 -     

     1     successfully complete a State-administered exam before
     2     assuming classroom duties. Regulations adopted by the State
     3     Board of Education require all teachers to have training
     4     related to English Language Learners (ELL) students and
     5     students with disabilities and require special education
     6     teachers to be dual certified. All teachers are required to
     7     continue their professional education throughout their
     8     careers. There is simply no reason why fulfillment of these
     9     requirements, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other
    10     states, should not be sufficient to satisfy the Federal
    11     standard of "highly qualified teacher." The definition of
    12     "highly qualified teacher" should be revised to provide that
    13     any educator who is teaching in his or her assigned area of
    14     certification and has met the licensure/certification
    15     requirements set forth in his or her respective state has
    16     satisfied the Federal standard.
    17         (3)  Assessment of students with disabilities and English
    18     Language Learners must be amended to reflect a realistic
    19     understanding of their capacities. Absent such amendment, the
    20     law dooms these children to failure by faulting them for not
    21     achieving standards beyond their reach and by ignoring their
    22     success. For the 2005-2006 school year, 546 schools in the
    23     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not make "AYP" (adequate
    24     yearly progress): 173 of these schools missed due to a single
    25     subgroup, usually special education students or students with
    26     depressed socioeconomic status. Students with disabilities
    27     are called "special education" students because they require
    28     adjusted teaching methods, adjusted classroom settings,
    29     adjusted technology and additional services. The Individuals
    30     with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) recognizes these
    20070S0141R1270                  - 3 -     

     1     differences and addresses them in a manner to maximize the
     2     potential for success of these students. At the same time,
     3     NCLB requires special education students to perform on the
     4     same type of assessment tools and to the same levels within
     5     the same time frames as their nonspecial peers. Common-sense
     6     flexibility when assessing and counting test scores from
     7     students with disabilities and ELL students is now required.
     8     Individuals Education Program (IEP) teams should be allowed
     9     to determine the appropriate assessment and standards that
    10     the assessment should be based on for each child. The current
    11     arbitrary 1% and 2% limits for alternative assessment of
    12     these students must be removed. For ELL students for whom
    13     native language assessments in the required core content
    14     subjects are not available, the period of time before their
    15     test scores are included in AYP must be extended to three
    16     years. Without these adjustments, not only are special
    17     education and ELL students doomed to almost certain failure,
    18     their school districts will only reach AYP if their special
    19     education and ELL populations are suddenly reduced to zero.
    20     These children and school districts will be permanently "left
    21     behind."
    22         (4)  Accountability must be based on multiple blended
    23     measures, and sufficient resources must be provided to permit
    24     states to meet these requirements. The current AYP structure
    25     is flawed. It presents multiple ways to fail, yet only one
    26     way for schools to meet the required progress indicators.
    27     What is more, NCLB results in an overreliance on standardized
    28     testing to the exclusion of other recognized indicators of
    29     student achievement. The law must be amended to include valid
    30     and reliable assessments for each child that accurately and
    20070S0141R1270                  - 4 -     

     1     fairly reflect student, school and school district
     2     performance. It is proposed that school districts be
     3     permitted to develop a research-based school accountability
     4     formula or matrix that considers multiple measures, such as
     5     district-level assessments, graduation rates for high
     6     schools, attendance rates, school-level assessments,
     7     performance or portfolio assessments and the percentage of
     8     students participating in rigorous coursework, which may
     9     include dual enrollment, honors, advanced placement or
    10     international baccalaureate courses. It is further proposed
    11     that the law sanction the use of growth models to measure
    12     changes in student performance, that every state be allowed
    13     to implement a transparent growth model methodology that
    14     recognizes continuous improvement for all students and grants
    15     schools credit for improving student achievement at all
    16     points on the achievement scale and for improving student
    17     achievement over time, with the understanding that data from
    18     growth models in an accountability system should be used
    19     exclusively to improve instructional and curriculum decisions
    20     and professional development for educators. Differentiated
    21     outcomes for schools should be permitted so a school that
    22     falls short in just one or two AYP criteria would be required
    23     to develop and implement a targeted improvement plan for the
    24     specific subgroup of students. The current system of
    25     sanctions should be replaced with support systems such as
    26     enhanced and comprehensive technical assistance from Federal
    27     and state agencies, Federal and state assistance in
    28     developing and revising improvement plans and increased
    29     Federal funding for recipients to implement such plans;
    30  and be it further
    20070S0141R1270                  - 5 -     

     1     RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     2  transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the
     3  United States, to the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings
     4  and to all members of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation.


















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