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Organizations Representing Students and Schools Offer Support for K-12 Legislation

Today, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce is considering the Student Success Act (H.R. 3989) and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (H.R. 3990). Together, these bills represent a new way forward in K-12 education. Below are a few key endorsements from organizations representing America’s schools, students, and taxpayers:

AASA strongly supports your vision of a more fair and accurate accountability [system] in tandem with greater transparency and a return to state and local control over critical educational processes… The Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act place decisions with state and local policymakers and education leaders who are more familiar with local schools and likely more open to changes when policy is clearly flawed. As such, we support reporting H.R. 3989 and H.R. 3990 from committee. American Association of School Administrators

The bill[s] before the committee will advance student achievement by promoting high standards, rigorous assessments, effective accountability, disaggregated data for informed local decision making, and improved practices in teaching and school leadership in a manner that will enable the state and local levels to effectively perform their roles to achieve the laudatory federal goals and framework set forth in this legislation. – National School Boards Association

Collectively, the two bills make significant improvements in the federal role in accountability, standards and assessments. In addition to eliminating Adequate Yearly Progress, annual measurable objectives, mandatory set asides for supplemental education services and the requirement for 100% proficiency, the bills also retain student disaggregation by subgroup, reauthorize the Rural Education Achievement Program, and return ownership of accountability, assessments and standards to the state [and] local level. Further, the bills remove caps on alternate assessments, reduce federal overreach in school improvement strategies, provide funding flexibility between certain programs in Title I, eliminate requirements related to the Highly Qualified Teacher provisions, and require that assessments measure proficiency and growth models. – National Rural Education Association

I applaud your legislation’s recognition of the primacy of state and local leadership in education. CCSSO has long called for transforming ESEA into a law that reinforces state leadership and promotes deference to state and local judgment; we strongly believe that state and local leaders are best situated to make improvements that benefit students in our states.Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

[W]e encourage your colleagues to cosponsor and otherwise support the Student Success Act. It places decision-making back in the hands of those most familiar with school districts’ needs, increases transparency, and moves to safeguard taxpayers from ineffective education spending… The current approach to federal education policy applies a ‘one size fits all’ mentality that has failed to encourage student development and effective classroom practices. The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act shifts decisions to the state and local levels and provides support for private sector initiatives, such as charter schools, that have shown to be effective allies in improving education. Americans for Tax Reform and Cost of Government Center

To learn more about the markup for the Student Success Act (H.R. 3989) and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (H.R. 3990), visit www.republicans-edlabor.house.gov/markups.
 

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