NCLB - Final Regulations Released

Yesterday, Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, released the final regulations to NCLB.

Highlights include:

  • Uniform formula to calculate graduation rate
  • Expand opportunities for participation in supplementary education services or SES.
  • States must re-evaluate "n" size. It must be no larger than necessary to ensure confidentiality of individuals and statistical accuracy. This could effect AYP for the 2009-10 assessment results.
  • The NCLB report card for LEAs must contain NAEP assessment results. The percentage of students at each achievement level on NAEP must be reported in the aggregate along side PSSA scores.                                                          

Click here to go directly to all 441 pages of final regulations. Go straight to page 6 for the official summary of the major changes.

Click here to view Education Week's highlights of the final regulations including information on the new requirement for all states to use the same formula for calculating graduation rates.

Click here to go to NCLB II ---- an Education Week blog dedicated to following NCLB

Comments

dbittner said…
I was reading an article contained within this topic area that states that NCLB needs to be totally revised which I couldn't agree with more. The article talks about the roles need to be reversed between the Federal government and the states (whatever happened to the Federal government leaving the decisions regarding education to the individual states???. We also need to get rid of the impossible requirement that all students be proficient by 2014. The article goes on to state that the gains made since the law was enacted are minimal (not sure I agree with that)and have created a hostile environment amongst those that are expected to enact the law. Sounds like a major overall is necessary to me!
November 18, 2008 at 5:51 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Libraries as the Hub of School Improvement

Image
I love school improvement! It sounds geeky and surreal, but it’s true. I practically get goose bumps talking about continuous improvement and high leverage instructional strategies. We have worked hard at our IU to offer comprehensive services to support our school districts and truly thought we had most of the territory covered. However, turns out we never considered the role of school libraries as a source of school improvement. Summary of Research Concludes (Findings from 19 State and 1 Province including Pennsylvania) : “A substantial body of research since 1990 shows a positive relationship between school libraries and student achievement. The research studies show that school libraries can have a positive impact on student achievement—whether such achievement is measured in terms of reading scores, literacy, or learning more generally. A school library program that is adequately staffed, resourced, and funded can lead to higher student achievement regardless of the soc...
Read more

Planning for Differentiation

Image
An article in the Washington Post, Schools Look At Providing More Time For Teachers caught my eye recently which looks at teacher planning time. As you might imagine, teachers feel they lack planning time.... and they may have a point. The amount of planning time has stayed constant while requirements for inclusion and accountability have increased. My question is do we design curriculum to address these challenges from the onset or do we expect teachers to plan lessons, adjust their instruction for a variety of diverse learners, grade assignments, connect with parents and other colleagues, make copies in a 40 minute planning period? Why not differentiate the curriculum from the beginning? The graphic to the left depicts the Curriculum Planning Pyramid (Schumm, Vaughn, & Leavell, 1994) which represents how curriculum might be organized to meet the needs of all learners. The base represents the most important concepts you want ALL STUDENTS to learn. The middle layer represents...
Read more

Luau as a Metaphor for School Improvement

Image
The luau, once called the aha aina, was an event that was designed to unite the participants and foster good will, thanks and praise. The purpose of the luau could have been to celebrate accomplishments, honor heroes or gods, or commemorate important events. While some ancient foods represented strength or virility, other foods might symbolize virtues or goals the participants hoped to achieve (from To-Hawaii.com) A luau, in other words, is all about reflection. What is going well? What are the next steps? This is exactly what our school improvement teams did last week. They reflected on the level of implementation of their plan and the level of effectiveness. Participants spent the morning going through their plans goal by goal – looking back toward accomplishments and looking forward to next steps. We over-laid these discussions with information on managing and effectively facilitating change. We read Implications for School Leaders Facilitating Change , which is from H...
Read more