[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 111 (Thursday, July 12, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9138-S9140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. Gregg):
  S. 1775. A bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 to ensure that no child is left behind; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2007, which I am pleased to introduce with my colleague 
Senator Gregg of New Hampshire. It has been an honor for my office to 
work with Senator Gregg, one of the ``Big 4'' architects of the 
original No Child Left Behind legislation that passed Congress with 
overwhelmingly bipartisan support and that was signed into law by 
President Bush in January 2002.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 is the first comprehensive 
reauthorization legislation to be introduced in either the Senate or 
the House of Representatives. I hope our introduction today will kick-
start the legislative process and get the Senate and the House on the 
path to a swift reauthorization of NCLB, the most sweeping and 
important federal K-12 education legislation passed since the original 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed in 1965.
  If ever there were a Federal law that needed to be reauthorized on 
time, it is No Child Left Behind. As the headline to Ron Brownstein's 
article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times read: ``Don't leave this law 
behind: Progress is slow

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under Bush's 2001 education reform, but No Child Left Behind is worth 
improving.'' To be sure there has been lots of gnashing of teeth and 
grimacing in the K-12 field since NCLB was passed. But as many of us in 
Congress and across the country recognized when NCLB was passed in 
2001, the point of No Child Left Behind wasn't, in the words of Kati 
Haycock of the Education Trust, ``to make people happy.''
  If we had wanted to make the adult stakeholders in K-12 happy, we 
could have done nothing and just kept the status quo. However, in 2001 
this Congress and a number of dedicated individuals and groups across 
this Nation decided the status quo for our children was not acceptable 
and that the time had come to eradicate, as President Bush called it, 
the ``soft bigotry of low expectations.'' Together with strong 
bipartisanship, this Congress with the passage of No Child Left Behind 
stated to all the adult stakeholders that we can and will close the 
achievement gap and to all of America's children that, regardless of 
background, socio-economics, race, ethnicity, or disability, you can 
and will learn and you can and will achieve.
  We must not turn away from what we began when we passed the original 
No Child Left Behind legislation. The stakes are too high both for our 
children and the Nation as a whole. In the ever competitive global 
economy, all our children, not just some and not just the lucky or the 
fortunate, must be equipped with the academic skills to succeed. We 
cannot afford to return to the status quo of days past. The time is now 
to reauthorize No Child Left Behind and to reassert to all of America's 
children that this Congress will not give up on them and will not stop 
this endeavor until the too-long-standing achievement gap is closed 
once and for all and until all children have the academic skills they 
need to succeed in both postsecondary education and the workforce.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 that Senator Gregg and I are 
introducing today does not abandon the basic tenets of No Child Left 
Behind. To be sure there is still a great deal of work to do to reach 
our Nation's goal of having all children proficient in reading and math 
by 2013-2014. Nevertheless, we are seeing historic increases in student 
achievement. Since the passage of NCLB, the United States has witnessed 
a greater increase in student achievement in the last five years than 
in the 30 previous years combined, as well as a significant narrowing 
in the achievement gap between African-American and Hispanic students 
and their Caucasian peers. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 builds 
on the original cornerstone laid by Congress in 2001 of holding schools 
accountable for the academic achievement of all their students and of 
empowering parents to make better choices for their child's education.
  In particular, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 preserves the 
foundational principles of NCLB. It maintains the goal that all 
children will reach grade-level proficiency in reading in math by 2013-
2014; keeps in place annual testing in grades 3-8 and at the high 
school level; and keeps in place an accountability system rooted in 
State standards and State assessments. Further, our bill does not water 
down accountability with the addition of multiple measures; rather, it 
keeps a laser-like focus on grade-level achievement in math and 
reading.
  While maintaining the fundamentals of NCLB, the No Child Left Behind 
Act of 2007 rightly responds to legitimate concerns parents, teachers, 
and principals, have raised regarding the original legislation. In 
response to concerns raised about impracticable accountability 
timeframes, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 streamlines the 
accountability timeline to make it easier for schools to develop and 
implement plans to improve student achievement and to focus on what 
matters most teaching and learning. Additionally, recognizing that 
schools and their needs vary, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 
allows for differentiated interventions for schools in restructuring to 
allow districts and schools to target resources to students and schools 
most in need of assistance. Further, in response to calls for the use 
of a growth model to measure individual student progress and to 
positively recognize schools and educators who are making tremendous 
strides in improving the achievement of all children, the bill expands 
the Department's seven State growth model demonstration to all 50 
States.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 also responds to legitimate 
concerns regarding the special populations of limited English 
proficient, LEP, students and students with disabilities, by providing 
greater flexibility, focus, and resources to help schools educate these 
students to high standards. Notably, the bill grants new flexibility 
for LEP students who are new to the country and codifies in statute 
recent flexibility granted by the Department of Education for special 
education students, which permits the use of alternate academic 
achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive 
disabilities and modified academic achievement standards for students 
who have disabilities that preclude them from achieving grade-level 
proficiency. Finally, the bill targets Federal assessment dollars to 
develop and administer valid and reliable assessments for special 
education and LEP students and targets professional development dollars 
to empower teachers with better tools and information for teaching LEP 
and special education children.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 reasserts that high-quality 
teachers are the most important factor to improved student academic 
achievement. The bill authorizes programs to ensure that all students 
are taught by a highly qualified teacher and to ensure that low-income 
and minority students are not taught by unqualified and inexperienced 
teachers at higher rates than their more affluent peers. The No Child 
Left Behind Act of 2007 maintains the current definition of highly 
qualified teacher; emphasizes alternative certification, incentive, 
differential, and performance and merit pay; and has States and 
districts conduct needs assessments to determine which districts and 
schools have the most acute teacher quality and staffing needs in order 
to better target resources to those schools and districts. Further, the 
bill gives greater authority to local school districts to renegotiate 
restrictions in collective bargaining agreements that contribute to the 
least experienced and qualified teachers teaching in the schools with 
students most in need of a highly qualified teacher.

  Finally, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 focuses on improving 
the Nation's high school graduation rate. Included in the legislation 
is the Graduate for a Better Future Act, which I introduced earlier 
this year in response to the high school dropout crisis in the United 
States. The high school graduation rate for the class of 2003 was only 
70 percent nationwide. Thus, almost one-third of American students who 
enter high school in ninth grade drop out of school and never receive a 
high school diploma. Large disparities exist in the high school 
graduation rates among various subgroups of students. Although the high 
school graduation rate for white students was 78 percent in 2003, the 
rate for African American students was only 55 percent, and the rate 
for Hispanic students was only 53 percent.
  To remain competitive in the world economy, it is critical for 
America's youth to graduate from high school and to have access to the 
postsecondary education needed to succeed in the 21st century job 
market. Funds under the Graduate for a Better Future Act will be used 
to create models of excellence for academically rigorous high schools 
to prepare all students for college and the 21st century workplace; to 
implement accelerated academic catch-up programs for students who enter 
high school behind; to implement an early warning system to quickly 
identify students at risk of dropping out of high school; to implement 
comprehensive college guidance programs; and to implement programs that 
offer students opportunities for job-shadowing, internships, and 
community service so that students are able to make the connection 
between what they are learning in school and how that applies and is 
used in the workplace.
  Additionally, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 requires states to 
get serious and to get accurate in their calculation of graduation 
rates. The Nation's dropout crisis will not go away

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by fudging on the numbers. The graduation rate in the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2007 builds on the work of all 50 states through the 
National Governors Association, which has signed the Graduation Counts 
Compact, an effort started in 2005 to find a common method for 
calculating each state's high school graduation rate.
  As I stated at the beginning of my remarks, continuing our endeavor 
begun in 2001, the time is now to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. For 
the future of our Nation, our children, we must not turn back. Once 
again let us stand together and State to the American public that we 
can and will close the achievement gap. And once again let us say to 
every child, regardless of background, you can achieve.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, since its implementation, the No Child Left 
Behind Act has been successful in narrowing the achievement gap and 
improving student performance. Since its passage, the U.S. has 
witnessed a greater increase in student achievement in the last 5 years 
than in the previous 30 years combined, as well as a significant 
narrowing in the achievement gap. Because of No Child Left Behind, 
parents are now empowered with information on the quality of their 
child's school and given the ability to improve their child's education 
through additional tutorial services.
  No Child Left Behind has been tremendously successful in ensuring 
that all students have access to the same high academic standards. No 
longer can a school hide behind the averages of their higher performing 
students; now all students are given the same opportunities to reach 
academic proficiency. Today I am introducing the No Child Left Behind 
Act of 2007 with my colleague Mr. BURR. This bill builds upon the basic 
tenets of No Child Left Behind and rightly responds to the legitimate 
concerns of parents, teachers and principals. The No Child Left Behind 
Act of 2007 maintains the expectation that all students can reach or 
exceed proficiency when given the opportunity. Any rollback of 
accountability simply ignores the progress already being made and the 
belief that all students can reach proficiency when given the 
opportunity.
  Recognizing that each school and its needs vary tremendously, the No 
Child Left Behind Act of 2007 allows for differentiated consequences to 
ensure that schools where a majority of students are not performing at 
grade-level are treated differently than schools where a small segment 
of the school population is not meeting State standards. Coupled with 
additional time before advancing into the next stage of Program 
Improvement, these new differentiated consequences will allow schools 
to target resources and interventions to the students who need the most 
assistance in reaching state-determined levels proficiency.
  Under this bill, the Federal Government will continue to support 
States financially in their development, improvement, and 
administration of State academic assessments through the 
reauthorization of the Grants for State Assessments program. 
Additionally, because many States are still striving to improve their 
assessment systems to assess students with disabilities and limited 
English proficient students validly and reliably, the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2007 creates a fund dedicated solely to the development 
and improvement of assessments for these students.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 recognizes that high quality 
teachers are the most important factor to improved student academic 
achievement. The bill authorizes several programs to ensure that all 
students are taught by a highly-qualified teacher and to ensure that 
low-income students are not taught by unqualified and inexperienced 
teachers at higher rates than their more affluent peers. This bill 
authorizes the Teacher Incentive Fund, a program to encourage State and 
schools districts to expand performance-based compensation for teachers 
and principals in high-need schools who raise student achievement and 
close the achievement gap. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 also 
authorizes the Adjunct Teacher Corp, a program to encourage highly 
educated and trained professionals, particularly in the areas of math 
and science, to teach high school courses in their area of expertise.
  One of the key cornerstones of No Child Left Behind, options for 
parents, is maintained and expanded in the No Child Left Behind Act of 
2007. Notably, this bill makes supplemental services available at the 
same time as public school choice, expands the time period parents can 
enroll their children in tutorial services programs and makes it easier 
for supplemental service providers to readily access school facilities.
  The No Child Left Behind Act of 2007 authorizes a new ``money follows 
the child'' program and provides financial assistance to districts that 
permit Title I dollars to follow the child to the public school of his 
or her choice. This child-centered program will infuse competition into 
the public school system, empower parents with new choices and 
encourage all public schools to improve the academic achievement of all 
students.
  The combination of strengthening supplemental services and the new 
child-centered program will provide even greater resources for parents 
to ensure that the educational needs of their children are being met.
  This bill maintains what we know is working, accountability, 
transparency and expanded options, without adding burdensome new 
requirements. By maintaining the fundamentals of No Child Left Behind, 
this bill combines maximum flexibility with differentiated consequences 
to ensure that all schools and students have the tools necessary to 
reach academic proficiency.
                                 ______