Tennessee Takes Action to Fix Federal NCLB Law

Changes/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: "Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced yesterday that under a new pilot program, North Carolina and Tennessee will be the first states permitted to change the way they assess student progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The "growth model" assessment will allow the schools to be in compliance by measuring the progress of individual students annually, instead of an entire grade of different students.
Spellings said that those states were selected because they have a sophisticated data-collection system already in place for assessing students.

Many schools prefer the growth model to the current policy because they believe it gives them more flexibility to meet the standards by showing that individual students are improving. Low-performing schools are subject to fines if they do not meet the No Child Left Behind assessment standards."
- Washington Post, 5/18/06

Status of Action:

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Changes/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: “At least one-fifth of the states say they plan to apply for a pilot program that would let them use a measure of student growth over time to help determine whether schools and districts have met their annual achievement targets under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Many other states, moreover, appear eager—judging from their participation in recent conference calls and meetings on the topic—at least to explore the possibility of applying for the ‘growth models’ pilot. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the program in November, following pressure from states and education groups. (“U.S. to Pilot New Gauge of ‘Growth’," Nov. 30, 2005.)

Officials in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Utah all told Education Week that they were planning to apply for the pilot initiative. The Department of Education released further guidance on the program, which has a Feb. 17 deadline for applications, on Jan. 27. As many as 10 states could take part after going through a peer-review process.”
- Education Week, February 1, 2006

Status of Action: Department of Education approved North Carolina's growth model, 5/17/06

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Cost or Participation Study

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State Senate introduced SB2256, a bill to require the Select Committee on Education Oversight to conduct studies of the NCLB accountability plans

Status of Action: last action 5/18/04

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Cost or Participation Study

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State House of Representatives introduced HB2979 a bill to require the Select Committee on Education Oversight to conduct studies of the NCLB accountability plans

Status of Action: last action 5/05/04

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Full Funding Resolution

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State Senate introduced SJR694, a resolution that notes the state is further burdened by the mandates of NCLB by requirements added without increases in funding. Urges members of the Tennessee Congressional delegation to seek full funding of NCLB and all federal education mandates

Status of Action: last action 3/30/04

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