[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 19 (Monday, February 28, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S883-S884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       DORGAN AMENDMENT NO. 2837

  (Ordered to be referred to the Committee on Finance.)
  Mr. DORGAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to 
the bill (S. 1124) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
eliminate the 2-percent floor on miscellaneous itemized deductions for 
qualified professional development expenses of elementary and secondary 
school teachers; as follows:

       At the end, add the following:

              TITLE ____--STANDARDIZED SCHOOL REPORT CARDS

     SEC. ____01. SHORT TITLE.

       This title may be cited as the ``Standardized School Report 
     Card Act''.

[[Page S884]]

     SEC. ____02. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) According to the report ``Quality Counts 99'', by 
     Education Week, 36 States require the publishing of annual 
     report cards on individual schools, but the content of the 
     report cards varies widely.
       (2) The content of most of the report cards described in 
     paragraph (1) does not provide parents with the information 
     the parents need to measure how their school or State is 
     doing compared with other schools and States.
       (3) Ninety percent of taxpayers believe that published 
     information about individual schools would motivate educators 
     to work harder to improve the schools' performance.
       (4) More than 60 percent of parents and 70 percent of 
     taxpayers have not seen an individual report card for their 
     area school.
       (5) Dissemination of understandable information about 
     schools can be an important tool for parents and taxpayers to 
     measure the quality of the schools and to hold the schools 
     accountable for improving performance.

     SEC. ____03. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this title is to provide parents, taxpayers, 
     and educators with useful, understandable school report 
     cards.

     SEC. ____04. REPORT CARDS.

       (a) State Report Cards.--Each State educational agency 
     receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary 
     Education Act of 1965 shall produce and widely disseminate an 
     annual report card for parents, the general public, teachers 
     and the Secretary of Education, in easily understandable 
     language, with respect to elementary and secondary education 
     in the State. The report card shall contain information 
     regarding--
       (1) student performance in language arts and mathematics, 
     plus any other subject areas in which the State requires 
     assessments, including comparisons with students from 
     different school districts within the State, and, to the 
     extent possible, comparisons with students throughout the 
     Nation;
       (2) attendance and graduation rates;
       (3) professional qualifications of teachers in the State, 
     the number of teachers teaching out of field, and the number 
     of teachers with emergency certification;
       (4) average class size in the State;
       (5) school safety, including the safety of school 
     facilities, incidents of school violence and drug and alcohol 
     abuse, and the number of instances in which a student was 
     determined to have brought a firearm to school under the 
     State law described in the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994;
       (6) to the extent practicable, parental involvement, as 
     measured by the extent of parental participation in school 
     parental involvement policies described in section 1118(b) of 
     the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
       (7) the annual school dropout rate, as calculated by 
     procedures conforming with the National Center for Education 
     Statistics Common Core of Data;
       (8) student access to technology, including the number of 
     computers for educational purposes, the number of computers 
     per classroom, and the number of computers connected to the 
     Internet; and
       (9) other indicators of school performance and quality.
       (b) School Report Cards.--Each school receiving assistance 
     under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, or 
     the local educational agency serving that school, shall 
     produce and widely disseminate an annual report card for 
     parents, the general public, teachers and the State 
     educational agency, in easily understandable language, with 
     respect to elementary or secondary education, as appropriate, 
     in the school. The report card shall contain information 
     regarding--
       (1) student performance in the school in language arts and 
     mathematics, plus any other subject areas in which the State 
     requires assessments, including comparisons with other 
     students within the school district, in the State, and, to 
     the extent possible, in the Nation;
       (2) attendance and graduation rates;
       (3) professional qualifications of the school's teachers, 
     the number of teachers teaching out of field, and the number 
     of teachers with emergency certification;
       (4) average class size in the school;
       (5) school safety, including the safety of the school 
     facility, incidents of school violence and drug and alcohol 
     abuse, and the number of instances in which a student was 
     determined to have brought a firearm to school under the 
     State law described in the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994;
       (6) parental involvement, as measured by the extent of 
     parental participation in school parental involvement 
     policies described in section 1118(b) of the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act of 1965;
       (7) the annual school dropout rate, as calculated by 
     procedures conforming with the National Center for Education 
     Statistics Common Core of Data;
       (8) student access to technology, including the number of 
     computers for educational purposes, the number of computers 
     per classroom, and the number of computers connected to the 
     Internet; and
       (9) other indicators of school performance and quality.
       (c) Model School Report Cards.--The Secretary of Education 
     shall use funds made available to the Office of Educational 
     Research and Improvement to develop a model school report 
     card for dissemination, upon request, to a school, local 
     educational agency, or State educational agency.
       (d) Disaggregation of Data.--Each State educational agency 
     or school producing an annual report card under this section 
     shall disaggregate the student performance data reported 
     under section ____4(a)(1) or ____4(b)(1), as appropriate, in 
     the same manner as results are disaggregated under section 
     1111(b)(3)(I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
     of 1965.

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