School-of-Thought

According to what I heard this past week in Washington, the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind will do more than leave behind the name (they’re going back to the old name of Elementary and Secondary Education ACT – ESEA), it will also leave behind the measurement of Adequate Yearly Progress. In its place will be new measurements of accountability that Duncan says will more fairly assess a schools’ academic progress, including:

1. Measurements of student growth.
2. Measurements of student achievement gaps
3. Measurements of high school graduation rates
4. Measurements post-secondary enrollment rates

All the South Dakota legislators we spoke with said they are getting mixed messages if there will be action this year or next, but what’s clear is that momentum is building to address reauthorization, especially in light of the president’s recent budget request which provides for an increase of $3.5 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of Education in FY 2011 – including $1.3 billion to finance a third round of competitive Race to the Top school grants.

Also on tap is the ability for indiviual school districts to apply directly to the federal goverment in the competitve program — something only the states can currently do. For a small state like South Dakota, that’s good news for us.