THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

217

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ASSESS THE ADDITIONAL COSTS TO THE STATE OF IMPLEMENTING THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT AND REPORT ON THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION'S EFFORTS TO ADDRESS METHODOLOGICAL FLAWS OF THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT.

 

 

WHEREAS, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Act) applies to all states accepting federal Title I education funds, including Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the Act mandates every public school to make adequate yearly progress to achieve one hundred per cent student proficiency in math, reading, language, arts, and science by school year 2013-2014; and

WHEREAS, the Act significantly expands the federal role in the administration of education, an area historically reserved to the states, thus curtailing state innovations and undermining the ability of the states to provide a system of public education based on policies developed by critical stakeholders in the states' policy making process; and

WHEREAS, the Act dramatically increases the cost of K-12 education without a commensurate increase in federal funding, thus leaving the states to substantially foot the bill for the extra costs of federal mandates; and

WHEREAS, the states' experience with implementation of the Act has revealed that its provisions, including the adequate yearly progress provisions, have an unnecessary level of rigidity and questionable methodology, and accordingly, the Act may have unintended consequences by redirecting resource allocations in a manner that reduces the chances of improvement for schools that truly need it, mislabeling schools and students, and undermining the states' efforts to improve education; and

WHEREAS, in the interest of protecting Hawaii's children and furthering their educational needs, it may be necessary to consider discontinuing the State's participation in the Act, if certain flaws in the Act that substantially undermine its effectiveness and the states' ability to reach proficiency in education are not corrected; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to prepare a report on the following:

(1) Whether it has received approval from the federal Department of Education to:

(A) Allow the State to use a value-added measurement of student achievement for determining adequate yearly progress;

(B) Allow the State to develop a plan using multiple measures in addition to relying on standardized test results to evaluate school and student performance for the purpose of determining adequate yearly progress;

(C) Allow the State to average three years of data for the purposes of identifying a school for improvement;

(D) Allow the State to use No Child Left Behind money to provide supplemental education services only in the academic subject area that causes a school to miss adequate yearly progress;

(E) Exclude from sanctions schools that have not made adequate yearly progress solely due to a subgroup of students with disabilities not testing at a proficient level;

(F) Exclude from sanctions a school that is classified as not having made adequate yearly progress solely due to different subgroups testing below proficient levels for at least two consecutive years;

(G) Identify a school as not making adequate yearly progress only after missing the adequate yearly progress targets in the same subject and subgroup for two consecutive years;

(H) Identify a district as being in need of improvement only after missing the adequate yearly progress target in the same subject across a multiple grade span for two consecutive years;

(I) Limit the score of a student within multiple subgroups to the one subgroup that is the smallest subgroup in which that student is a part of when calculating adequate yearly progress;

(J) Determine the percentage of the special education students that would be best educated based on out-of-level standards and tested accordingly based on an individual education plan;

(K) Determine when to hold schools accountable for including a student with limited English proficiency in adequate yearly progress calculations; and

(L) Consider a teacher teaching multiple subjects to be highly qualified based on a single means of evaluation; and

(2) Its progress in developing a plan and model legislation to ensure that if an adequate yearly progress determination was made in error, that the error will not adversely affect the school's sanction status in subsequent years;

(3) Additional costs that have been and will be incurred by the State to administer the Act and reach the proficiency goals of the Act;

(4) Its progress in implementing a uniform financial reporting system for schools to report costs related to implementing the Act's requirements, including the costs of complying with sanctions; and

(5) The financial impact to the State should it decide not to participate in implementing the Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to submit its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, and Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

No Child Left Behind; Education