Utahns hope to reform NCLB

Matheson's bill would make changes Harrington's office has been clamoring for but been largely denied by the U.S. Department of Education. That includes letting states give schools credit for test score improvement and use several tests to determine whether schools make the grade.

"All these provisions really came from what we heard from people in Utah," Matheson said. "Be it the state Board of Education, or the teachers or the PTA or the superintendents or the principals, it's been a rather extensive dialogue since frankly the bill passed in 2001."

The bill would let school districts decide to offer tutoring first, and transfer options second, for Title I schools repeatedly failing to make adequate yearly progress toward state achievement goals. Right now, districts have to offer to bus kids elsewhere first, then give them tutoring a year later. It also would let students with disabilities take tests on their intellectual level, instead of age-based grade level, as determined by individual education plans.

Matheson's bill also touches on "highly qualified teacher" requirements. It would give teachers rural schools until the 2011-12 school year to become highly qualified, typically meaning, a degree in the subject they're teaching, such as math or science, and put up $50 million extra to help them.

"Yes, we want qualified teachers, yes we want some standards but let's expand that definition," Matheson said. "Let's acknowledge experience, let's acknowledge a college minor."

Matheson used the example of a teacher in Utah who may have served a church mission in a foreign country and can now fluently speak the language, but under the rules now, because the language was not their college major, they are not deemed qualified under the law.

"We are not saying we don't want qualified teachers, we're saying let's have a more reasonable and expanded set of accommodations for how we decide if someone is qualified," Matheson said.

While Matheson would like to see his bill passed as a stand-alone piece of legislation, he would also like to see parts of his bill incorporated into the bill.

The bill also would seek to focus help on the specific group of kids who fail. So, if only low-income kids in a school fail the math exam, then only the low-income kids would receive an invitation to transfer to a higher-scoring school or get supplemental services, like tutoring.

"We very much support the concepts that he's pursuing," Harrington said.

But Andrea Rorrer, University of Utah assistant professor in educational leadership and policy and director of the Utah Education Policy Center, says the proposal contradicts NCLB's philosophy of accountability for student achievement to every school rather than just low-income schools and student groups.

"I don't think there's going to be a lot of leverage for proposals ... that go back to targeting particular students," Rorrer said.