EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
E-mail

July 26, 2001

Federal Education Legislation

Update by Julie Quist
MREdCoPAC Vice President

Two months ago the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR1, the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This extraordinarily bad federal education mandate for all 50 states binds every state more tightly into expanded accountability to the federal Goals 2000 and School-to-Work assessment system, the new national curriculum. For further analysis of this legislation, see our updates #1, #2, and #3.

The Senate subsequently passed the legislation (S1) with even more onerous mandates. The legislation now goes to a conference committee where the differences need to be worked out. The final "conference report" will need to be passed one final time by both the House and the Senate before going on to the President for his signature.

But all is not well with the bill. In a recent NY Times article, the following comments surfaced:

"State education officials across the country complain that the imminent federal requirement for annual reading and math tests threatens to undermine the testing systems virtually every state has fashioned over the last decade.

"As a conference committee irons out the differences between House and Senate versions of the new education act, the state education superintendents and commissioners who will be responsible for carrying it out say they also fear that the legislation will not fully pay for the new tests it requires; that the timetables for proficiency by all students within 12 years are unrealistic, and that they lack the staff to enforce its prescription for punishing low-performing schools and districts.

"In interviews last week with top education officials in all 50 states, these education leaders, from Wisconsin to Washington to West Virginia, said that the testing plan originally proposed by President Bush ignores the fact that virtually every state has developed comprehensive new standards and testing systems."

" 'The plan doesn't seem to be `leaving no child behind,' ' said Wisconsin's superintendent of instruction, Elizabeth Burmaster, referring to the program's slogan. 'It seems more like `leave no child untested.' ' "

Nor can the conferees agree what defines success. The bureaucracy grinds on.

For a summary of some of the positive amendments in the bill, see our report "After the House Vote,"

Donna Garner of Texas writes of one amendment in particular in which we must get involved:

• HR 1 contains Rep. Todd Akin's amendment (numbered 17 in House Report 107-69): "The testing required in Section 1111(b)(4) must be a test of objective knowledge, based on measurable, verifiable, and widely accepted professional testing and assessment standards, and shall not assess the personal opinions, attitudes, or beliefs of the student being tested."
• In other words, "the test" must be a test of objective knowledge (right or wrong, up or down, correct or incorrect answers) and cannot assess students' subjective, fuzzy personal opinions, attitudes, or beliefs.
• At the present time, the Senate version does not contain the Akin amendment.
• The conference committee has the power to adopt the Akin amendment as a part of its final conference committee package.
• The Akin amendment would cause teachers to focus their classroom instruction on knowledge-based, academic content instead of on performance-based instruction (PBI) which has led to the lowering of academic standards.
• It is PBI which has led to fuzzy math where process is commonly considered more important than generating the correct answer.
• It is PBI which has led teachers away from emphasizing right or wrong answers in math, spelling, and grammar. Instead students have begun to substitute "fluff" rather than accurate answers.
• It is PBI which has produced student writers who demonstrate lack of intellectual depth in their compositions but who, instead, fill their papers with touchy-feely slogans and unsupported personal opinions.
• It is PBI which has driven textbook publishers away from the inclusion of traditional classics in their textbooks. Instead publishers are filling their books with one- and two-page selections that have more to do with the ethnicity of the author than with the quality of the author's wordsmanship.
• It is PBI which has led "social studies" teachers to create an amalgam of unconnected dots for their students that leaves them devoid of historical, geographical, and governmental knowledge.
• Performance-based assessments are valid in the local classroom for limited amounts of instructional time; but at the state level, such subjectively scored assessments produce subjective, questionable results.
• Everyone on both sides of the political spectrum should want quality/credible testing data, and subjective scoring on state-mandated tests only leads to chaos and confusion.
• State-mandated test results do not need to be calculated based upon the subjective evaluations of graders.

Donna Garner
236 Cross Country Drive
Hewitt, TX 76643
(254) 666-2798
dggarner@swbell.net

We will be preparing a more detailed analysis of other amendments soon.

Congress recesses for the whole month of August, which is coming up soon so we will have more time to respond to this. If the President doesn't request certain things to be included in this bill, good amendments will be immediately removed.

Contact conferees to support the Akin amendment.

SENATE CONFEREES: 

Democrat/Independent:	Republican:
Ted Kennedy (MA) Chris Dodd (CT) Tom Harkin (IA) Barbara Mikulski (MD) Jim Jeffords (VT) Jeff Bingaman (NM) Paul Wellstone (MN) Patty Murry (WA) Jack Reed (RI) John Edwards (NC) Hillary Clinton (NY) Joseph Lieberman (CT) Evan Bayh (IN)	Judd Gregg (NH) Bill Frist (TN) Michael Enzi (WY) Tim Hutchinson (AR) John Warner (VA) Christopher "Kit" Bond (MO) Pat Roberts (KS) Susan Collins (ME) Jeff Sessions (AL) Michael DeWine (OH) Wayne Allard (CO) John Ensign (NV)

HOUSE CONFEREES: 

Democrat:	Republican:
Robert Andrews (NJ) Dale Kildee (MI) George Miller (CA) Patsy Mink (HI) Major Owens (NY) Tim Roemer (IN)	John Boehner (OH) Michael Castle (DE) Lindsey Graham (SC) Van Hilleary (TN) Johnny Isakson (GA) Buck McKeon (CA) Thomas Petri (WI) Marge Roukema (NJ)

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931 - edaction@lakes.com - (c) EdAction - All rights reserved.