[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 7, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4679-S4680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to support the bipartisan 
Every Child Achieves Act. This bill is landmark legislation that would 
reform and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also 
known as No Child Left Behind. This bill would improve our schools and 
strengthen the traditional roles played by our local communities, our 
educators, and our States.
  I am proud to have joined every member of the Senate Health, 
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in voting to report this bill 
and I applaud the chairman, Senator Alexander, and the ranking member, 
Senator Murray, for their leadership.
  Congressional action to remedy the serious problems with the law No 
Child Left Behind, while preserving its valuable parts, is long 
overdue. NCLB was a well-intentioned law, and its focus on the 
education of every child, greater transparency in school performance, 
and more accountability for results were welcome reforms. But some of 
its provisions were simply not achievable and thus discouraging to 
teachers, to parents, and to students alike.
  The current system of unattainable standards and a patchwork of State 
waivers has led to confusion about Federal requirements. High-stakes 
testing and unrealistic 100-percent proficiency goals do not raise 
aspirations; they instead dispirit those who are committed to a high-
quality education for our students. Responding to those concerns in 
2004, along with then-Senator Olympia Snowe, I established the Maine 
NCLB Task Force to examine the issues facing Maine and to provide 
recommendations for changes to No Child Left Behind.
  Our task force brought together individuals with a great deal of 
expertise, experience, and perspective on the law and on educational 
policy in general. The task force included teachers, principals, 
superintendents, school board members, parents, and State officials. It 
was cochaired by Leo Martin, a former commissioner of the Maine 
Department of Education, and Anne Pooler, a former professor and then-
associate dean at the College of Education at the University of Maine. 
The task force completed its work in 2005.
  Well, our Maine NCLB task force proved to be prescient in identifying 
the problems with implementing No Child Left Behind, and 10 years later 
its report is as relevant as ever.
  Chief among the task force's final recommendations was the need for 
greater flexibility for the State department of education and for local 
school boards. The members pointed out that the principles of improved 
student performance and closing achievement gaps were completely 
compatible with according States more flexibility to design different 
accountability systems.
  Reflecting that recommendation, the bill before us, the Every Child 
Achieves Act, would remove the high-stakes accountability system that 
has been proven unworkable under No Child Left Behind. Our bill would 
give States much-needed flexibility over how to improve the 
accountability of schools for student achievement. Recognizing also the 
critical importance of family engagement in education, the bill 
supports school districts in conducting parent outreach and 
participation activities.
  The Every Child Achieves Act would also eliminate the burdensome 
definition of a ``highly qualified teacher'' which has proven to be 
unworkable in Maine's small, rural schools. In such schools, the 
reality is that teachers must often teach multiple subjects and are 
reassigned to different content areas because of low enrollment.
  For example, on Maine's North Haven Island, there is one school that 
serves all students from kindergarten through the 12th grade. With 
fewer than 70 students, North Haven Community School is one of the 
smallest K-through-12 schools in my State. It is not surprising that 
the educators at the North Haven Community School teach multiple 
subject areas across the different grades because of the school's size.
  Speaking of smaller schools, I am particularly pleased that the Every 
Child Achieves Act would extend the Rural Education Achievement 
Program, known as REAP, which I coauthored with former Senator Kent 
Conrad in 2002. Students in rural America should have the same access 
to Federal grant dollars as those who attend schools in large urban and 
suburban communities. Most Federal competitive grant programs, however, 
favor larger school districts because those are the districts that have 
the ability to hire grant writers to apply for these grants. If you are 
in a school district such as North Haven, which only has 70 students 
for all the grades, you don't have the luxury of extra funds to hire 
grant writers to apply for these competitive grant programs.

  What REAP does is provides financial assistance to small and high-
poverty rural districts to help them address their unique local needs 
and also to meet Federal requirements. This program has helped to 
support new technology in classrooms, distance learning opportunities, 
professional development for educators, as well as an array of other 
programs that benefit students and teachers in rural districts. Since 
the law was enacted, at least 120 Maine school districts have 
collectively received more than $42 million from the Rural Education 
Achievement Program. That is money which has made a real difference to 
these small, rural, high-poverty districts, and it is Federal funds 
that they would never have been able to successfully compete for when 
they were applying against large, urban school districts.
  Maine's educators are working hard to develop high-quality 
assessments that better track student performance and growth. I am 
pleased that the Every Child Achieves Act includes a pilot program to 
support States that are designing alternative assessment systems based 
on student proficiency, not just traditional standardized tests. Such 
systems often give teachers, parents, and students a fuller 
understanding of each student's abilities and better prepare them for 
college or the career path they choose. The Federal Government should 
cooperate with States and school districts that are designing new 
assessment systems, and this pilot program is an important step in the 
right direction.

[[Page S4680]]

  During the committee's consideration of this bill, I offered an 
amendment with Senator Sanders to allow more States to participate in 
the innovative assessment program and to give participating school 
districts more time to scale up their systems statewide. Our amendment 
passed unanimously in committee, and I thank Chairman Alexander and 
Ranking Member Murray for continuing to work with me to refine and 
improve this pilot program.
  The bottom line is that Washington should not be imposing a top-down, 
one-size-fits-all approach to assessment. What works in Chicago may not 
be the answer for Turner, ME, which was named a Blue Ribbon School last 
year. Assessing the progress of our students is critical, but there are 
many effective ways to determine students' level of learning.
  Fifty years ago and alongside significant civil rights legislation, 
Congress first passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to 
improve access to education, particularly for the students from low-
income families. Providing a good education for every child must remain 
a national priority so that each child reaches his or her full 
potential, has a wide range of opportunities, and can compete in an 
increasingly global economy. The Every Child Achieves Act honors those 
guiding principles while returning greater control and flexibility to 
our States, to local school boards, and to educators.
  Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee 
for their work in crafting this bipartisan bill. I look forward to the 
debate on it in the week to come, and I urge my colleagues to support 
its passage.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

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