[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 12 (Monday, January 22, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S835-S837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CRAPO:
  S. 348. A bill to improve the amendments made by the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2001; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, today I introduce the Improving No Child 
Left Behind (INCLB) Act. As a father and a legislator, I am committed 
to advocating for public education in Idaho and throughout the Nation. 
Ensuring that every child receives a good education is one of my top 
priorities. President Bush's sweeping education reforms included in the 
No Child Left Behind Act have had measurable positive effects on many 
students across the country, and I support the law's objective of 
ensuring that every child achieves his or her potential.
  However, five years after passage of the law, it is now appropriate 
to review opportunities for needed improvements to the underlying 
program. After conferring with a number of organizations in Idaho and 
at the national level, I have identified implementation concerns that 
seem common to various stakeholder groups. In response, I have created 
the INCLB Act. This bill contains a number of workable, common-

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sense modifications to the law. These provisions preserve the major 
focus on student achievement and accountability and, at the same time, 
ensure that schools and school districts are accurately and fairly 
assessed. The act ensures that local schools and districts have more 
flexibility and control in educating our Nation's children. The goal of 
the act is expressed in its name: to improve No Child Left Behind.
  The bill does a number of things: INCLB would allow supplemental 
services like tutoring to be offered to students sooner than they are 
currently available; INCLB would provide flexibility for States to use 
additional types of assessment models for measuring student progress; 
INCLB grants states more flexibility in assessing students with 
disabilities; INCLB would ensure more fair and accurate assessments of 
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students; INCLB would create a 
student testing participation range, providing flexibility for 
uncontrollable variations in student attendance; INCLB would allow 
schools to target resources to those student populations who need the 
most attention by applying sanctions only when the same student group 
fails to make adequate progress in the same subject for two consecutive 
years; and INCLB would ensure that students are counted properly and 
accurately in assessment and reporting systems.
  Taken together, these provisions reflect a realistic assessment of 
both the strengths and weaknesses of No Child Left Behind. While there 
may be many issues that divide us, our responsibility in education is 
clear. We must promote successful, meaningful public education for our 
children. The INCLB Act will ensure that NCLB continues to be an avenue 
to success for educators and students throughout Idaho and the Nation.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 348

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Improving No Child Left 
     Behind Act''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in this 
     Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an 
     amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other provision, 
     the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or 
     other provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
     of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.).

     SEC. 3. ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS.

       (a) Accountability.--Section 1111(b)(2) (20 U.S.C. 
     6311(b)(2)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (I)(ii)--
       (A) by striking ``95 percent'' the first place the term 
     appears and inserting ``90 percent (which percentage shall be 
     based on criteria established by the State in the State 
     plan)''; and
       (B) by striking ``95 percent'' the second place the term 
     appears and inserting ``90 percent'';
       (2) by redesignating subparagraph (K) as subparagraph (N); 
     and
       (3) by inserting, after subparagraph (J), the following:
       ``(K) Single count of students.--In meeting the definition 
     of adequate yearly progress under subparagraph (C), a student 
     who may be counted in 2 or more groups described in 
     subparagraph (C)(v)(II), may be counted as an equal fraction 
     of 1 for each such group.
       ``(L) Students with disabilities requiring alternate 
     assessments.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     part, a State may implement the amendments made to part 200 
     of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations on December 9, 2003 
     (68 Fed. Reg. 68698) (related to achievement of students with 
     significant cognitive disabilities) as if such amendments--
       ``(i) permitted the proficient or advanced scores on 
     alternate assessments of not more than 3.0 percent of all 
     tested students to be considered as proficient or advanced, 
     respectively, for the purposes of determining adequate yearly 
     progress, except that--

       ``(I) any assessment given to any such so considered 
     student for the purposes of determining such adequate yearly 
     progress shall be required by the individualized education 
     program of such so considered student;
       ``(II) the individualized education program shall reflect 
     the need for any such alternate assessment based on the 
     evaluation of such so considered student and the services 
     provided such so considered student under section 614 of the 
     Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; and
       ``(III) the individualized education program shall include 
     written consent from the parent of such so considered student 
     prior to such alternate assessment being administered;

       ``(ii) used the term `students requiring alternate 
     assessments' in lieu of the term `students with the most 
     significant cognitive disabilities'; and
       ``(iii) permitted the eligibility, of such so considered 
     students to have the students' scores of proficient or 
     advanced on alternate assessments counted as proficient or 
     advanced for purposes of determining adequate yearly 
     progress, to be determined by the State educational agency, 
     except that such eligibility shall, at a minimum, include--

       ``(I) such so considered students who are receiving 
     services pursuant to a plan required under section 504 of the 
     Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
       ``(II) the students described in subclause (I) who are 
     assessed at a grade level below the grade level in which the 
     students are enrolled (out of level assessments); and
       ``(III) the students described in subclause (I) who are 
     considered students with the most significant cognitive 
     disabilities, as defined by the State educational agency, on 
     the day before the date of enactment of the Improving No 
     Child Left Behind Act .

       ``(M) Other measures of adequate yearly progress.--
     Notwithstanding any other provision of this paragraph, a 
     State may establish in the State plan an alternative 
     definition of adequate yearly progress, subject to approval 
     by the Secretary under subsection (e). Such alternative 
     definition may--
       ``(i) include measures of student achievement over a period 
     of time (such as a value added accountability system) or the 
     progress of some or all of the groups of students described 
     in subparagraph (C)(v) to the next higher level of 
     achievement described in subparagraph (II) or (III) of 
     paragraph (1)(D)(ii) as a factor in determining whether a 
     school, local educational agency, or State has made adequate 
     yearly progress, as described in this paragraph; or
       ``(ii) use the measures of achievement or the progress of 
     groups described in clause (i) as the sole basis for 
     determining whether the State, or a local educational agency 
     or school within the State, has made adequate yearly 
     progress, if--

       ``(I) the primary goal of such definition is that all 
     students in each group described in subparagraph (C)(v) meet 
     or exceed the proficient level of academic achievement, 
     established by the State, not later than 12 years after the 
     end of the 2001-2002 school year; and
       ``(II) such definition includes intermediate goals, as 
     required under subparagraph (H).''.

       (b) Assessments.--Section 1111(b)(3)(C) (20 U.S.C. 
     6311(b)(3)(C)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (ix), by striking subclause (III) and 
     inserting the following:

       ``(III) the inclusion of limited English proficient 
     students, who--

       ``(aa) may, consistent with paragraph (2)(M), be assessed, 
     as determined by the local educational agency, through the 
     use of an assessment which requires achievement of specific 
     gains for up to 3 school years from the first year the 
     student is assessed for the purposes of this subsection;
       ``(bb) may, at the option of the State educational agency, 
     be assessed in the first year the student attends school in 
     the United States (not including the Commonwealth of Puerto 
     Rico); and
       ``(cc) shall not be included in any calculation of an 
     adequate yearly progress determination when the student is in 
     the first year of attendance at a school in the United States 
     (not including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico).''; and
       (2) in clause (x), by inserting ``of clause (ix)'' after 
     ``subclause (III)''.
       (c) Regulations Affecting Limited English Proficient 
     Children and Children With Disabilities.--Section 1111 (20 
     U.S.C. 6311) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(n) Codification of Regulations Affecting Limited English 
     Proficient Children.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
     this part, this part shall be implemented consistent with the 
     amendments proposed to part 200 of title 34 of the Code of 
     Federal Regulations on June 24, 2004 (69 Fed. Reg. 35462) 
     (relating to the assessment of limited English proficient 
     children and the inclusion of limited English proficient 
     children in subgroups) as if such amendments permitted 
     students who were previously identified as limited English 
     proficient to be included in the group described in 
     subsection (b)(2)(C)(v)(II)(dd) for 3 additional years, as 
     determined by a local educational agency (based on the 
     individual needs of a child) for the purposes of determining 
     adequate yearly progress.''.

     SEC. 4. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE.

       Section 1116(b) (20 U.S.C. 6316(b)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``(in the same 
     subject for the same group of students, as described in 
     section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v))'' after ``2 consecutive years'';
       (B) in subparagraph (E)(i)--
       (i) by striking ``In the case'' and inserting ``Except as 
     provided in subparagraph (G), in the case''; and
       (ii) by striking ``all students enrolled in the school with 
     the option to transfer to another public school'' and 
     inserting ``students who failed to meet the proficient level 
     of achievement on the assessments described in section 
     1111(b)(3), are enrolled in the school, and are in the group 
     whose academic performance caused the identification under

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     this paragraph, with the option to transfer to one other 
     public school identified by and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(G) Options.--A local educational agency may offer 
     supplemental educational services as described in subsection 
     (e) in place of the option to transfer to another public 
     school described in subparagraph (E), for the first school 
     year a school is identified for improvement under this 
     paragraph.'';
       (2) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) of paragraph 
     (5), by inserting ``(in the same subject for the same group 
     of students)'' after ``adequate yearly progress''; and
       (3) in the matter preceding clause (i) of paragraph (7)(C), 
     by inserting ``(in the same subject for the same group of 
     students)'' after ``adequate yearly progress''.
                                 ______