110 HR 3406 IH: Success in the Middle Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2007-08-03 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3406 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 3, 2007 Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Hare, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Filner, Ms. Solis, Mr. Holt, and Mrs. McCarthy of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To provide grants to States to ensure that all students exit the middle grades prepared for success in a high school with an academically rigorous curriculum that prepares students for postsecondary education and the workplace.

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Short title

This Act may be cited as the Success in the Middle Act of 2007.

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Findings

(1)Students in grades 5 through 8 represent 58 percent (approximately 15 million) of the Nation’s annual test-takers under the amendments made by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. (2)According to the 2005 National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP), fewer than one-third of the students in 8th grade can read and write with proficiency; in mathematics, only 30 percent of students in 8th grade perform at the proficient level, and nearly one-third score below the basic level. (3)According to the 2005 NAEP, only 6 percent of students with disabilities in 8th grade scored at or above proficiency in reading as compared with 31 percent for non-disabled students. (4)Results from ACT's EXPLORE assessment reflect that only 11 percent of 8th grade students are on track to succeed in first-year college English, algebra, biology and social science courses. (5)96 percent of 8th grade English language learners scored below the proficient level of the reading portion of the 2005 NAEP. (6)Sixth-grade students who do not attend school regularly, who receive poor behavior marks, or who fail mathematics or English have no more than a 10 percent chance of graduating high school on time and a 20 percent chance of graduating one year late. (7)If funds provided under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 were distributed on the basis of student populations, middle schools (representing 23 percent of the Nation’s student population) would receive approximately $2.92 billion of the current title I allocation. Yet, of the $12.7 billion appropriated in FY 2005 for title I, only $1.27 billion (10 percent) is allocated to middle schools by the States. (8)Middle school students are optimistic about their future with 93 percent believing that there is no chance that they will drop out of high school and 92 percent say that it is likely that they will attend college. Yet about one-third of students who enter high school do not graduate with their peers, and another third graduate but do not have the knowledge and skills to succeed in college. (9)68 percent of middle school students indicate that they have little or no information about how to choose high school classes that will prepare them for college. (10)Research reflects that the middle school period is an important time for early postsecondary planning. (11)Research also associates the middle school years with declines in motivation, self-perception, and academic achievement. (12)Transitions from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school are often complicated by poor vertical curriculum alignment, inadequate counseling services to help students make decisions about course work and co-curricular activities, and unsatisfactory sharing of student performance data between schools. (13)To stem a dropout rate twice that of students without disabilities, students with disabilities in the critical middle grades must receive appropriate academic accommodations and access to assistive technology, high risk behaviors such as absenteeism and course failure must be monitored, and problem-solving skills with broad application must be taught.