No Child Left Behind input sought

During the next few weeks, some Utah legislators will be weighing in on the potential reauthorization of No Child Left Behind. Most want to either throw it out or make some adjustments.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington has presented a draft position paper to the Education Interim Committee on the controversial federal law at the request of Utah's congressional delegation.

She said the congressmen are gearing up for the law's expected reauthorization in 2008 or later and want to know what Utah leaders think about it.

In the paper, Harrington suggests several actions, including turning the law back to the 1990s before federal "interference" in accountability. States would be under their own accountability plans and would dramatically reduce the U.S. Department of Education's staff and functions.

Committee members were asked to read the draft and submit their own input within the next few weeks.

Other options in the letter include renaming the law "Every Child a Graduate" and making the existing law similar to the Utah Performance Assessment System for Students — including state standards, testing to measure academic growth and allowing states to lump test scores of groups together for accountability purposes rather than making judgments on each group's test scores.

Harrington also proposes testing students with disabilities on their intellectual levels; funding to help struggling students in any school, not just schools serving low-income children; and considering teachers highly qualified if they have degrees related to what they're teaching rather than a degree in each subject taught.

The proposal also includes some state initiatives, including full-day kindergarten, differentiated pay for teachers with specialized training and publicly funded preschool.

Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, the committee co-chairwoman, said NCLB oversteps its bounds and takes control away from the state. Completely dumping the law is the only way to go, she said.

"When Congress wrote the Enabling Act (for Utah to become a state), it said that the education would be under exclusive control of said state," Dayton said.

But Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, cautioned lawmakers against embracing a mob mentality about NCLB — saying "no way, no how" — and encouraged them to consider other options to fixing the law.

"There are some good things that come from (NCLB)," Holdaway said. "I think we can't ignore the light that has shone on the achievement gap — that may have come under U-PASS, but I think there are some positive things that have come from it."

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Contributing: Jennifer Toomer-Cook

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com