Education Commission of the States

Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 1200 • Denver, CO 80203-3460 • 303.299.3600 • Fax: 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
NCLB Reauthorization Recommendations

To better inform the national debate on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization, ECS collected and synthesized recommendations by national organizations to improve the federal law.

ECS' database is organized around 16 issue areas that captured most recommendations. Some organizations did not offer recommendations for all issues, at least according to our analysis. And several recommendations appear more than once since they applied to multiple issue areas.

The summary and full text of the American Association of School Administrators' (AASA) original recommendations are listed in this report. Please see the main database page for additional reports.

Highlights
Issues addressed: 8 of 16
Adequate Yearly Progress; Assessment, Standards and Curriculum; Consequences and Interventions; Data Systems and Reporting; English Language Learners; Finance; Students with Disabilities; and Miscellaneous/Overarching.

Issues not addressed: 8 of 16
Capacity, Innovation and Research & Development; Early Childhood; High School; Other Programs; School Safety; School Leadership; Supplemental Education Services; and Teaching Quality.

Areas of emphasis:
Adequate Yearly Progress; and Assessment, Standards and Curriculum; Data Systems and Reporting.

Source:
AASA Recommendations to Improve ESEA (February 2006)
2006 Legislative Agenda (February 2006)

Visit ECS' Database on NCLB Reauthorization main page for more information, explanations and access to organizations' original reports. Please note that ECS plans to expand the database as more information becomes available.

Database Last Updated: July 2007

This database was created and compiled by Mary Fulton, ECS policy analyst.
For questions and comments: 303.299.3679 or mfulton@ecs.org

NCLB Reauthorization : American Association of School Administrators (AASA)

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)

AYP 1 - Summary of Recommendation Establish evaluation scales to measure success/failure toward performance standards.

AYP 1 - Full Recommendation
Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing evaluation scales that identify degrees of success and failure to meet state performance standards.

AYP 2 - Summary of Recommendation Vertically align state standards and allow use of AYP or benchmarks to measure student progress toward growth expectations that are based on sample of student progress.

AYP 2 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing vertically aligned state content and performance standards that permit using either adequate yearly progress as a measure of success or benchmarks for student progress that establish annual expectations for growth in achievement, based on progress of a sample of other students across the state.

AYP 3 - Summary of Recommendation Judge school/district success based on Title I student achievement.

AYP 3 - Full Recommendation Judge the success of districts and schools based on the achievement of students served under Title I of ESEA.

AYP 4 - Summary of Recommendation Permit use of growth or status models to judge school/district success.

AYP 4 - Full Recommendation Permit states and districts to use accountability systems based on either growth or status models to judge the success of districts and schools serving Title I students.

AYP 5 - Summary of Recommendation Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.

AYP 5 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b) fairer to special education and English language learners (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.

AYP 6 - Summary of Recommendation Permit use of local accountability system if more accurately measures successful instruction.

AYP 6 - Full Recommendation Permit districts that have the capacity to substitute a local accountability system if the state determines that the local plan more accurately measures the effect of instruction on students and is more useful in planning future instruction.

Assessment, Standards and Curriculum (ASC)

ASC 1 - Summary of Recommendation Continually improve state standards to ensure match skills and knowledge students expected to master in school.

ASC 1 - Full Recommendation Review and continually improve state content and performance standards for reading, math and science to create a clear path to the skills and knowledge students are ultimately expected to master is public schools.

ASC 2 - Summary of Recommendation Develop state tests that allow tracking progress of students and student cohorts toward performance standards and AYP targets.

ASC 2 - Full Recommendation Develop statewide tests that permit charting the academic progress of both individual students and cohorts of students toward achieving state performance standards or comparing the percentage of students making adequate yearly progress by scoring at the proficient level on annual test scores.

ASC 3 - Summary of Recommendation Vertically align state standards and allow use of AYP or benchmarks to measure student progress toward growth expectations that are based on sample of student progress.

ASC 3 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing vertically aligned state content and performance standards that permit using either adequate yearly progress as a measure of success or benchmarks for student progress that establish annual expectations for growth in achievement, based on progress of a sample of other students across the state.

ASC 4 - Summary of Recommendation Create valid state tests for students with disabilities that are consistent with IEP benchmarks for meeting state standards.

ASC 4 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and school districts by establishing statistically valid statewide tests, and local option assessments if used, for all special education students in schools using ESEA funds that are consistent with the annual achievement benchmarks in the students Individual Education Plan (IEP) toward mastery of state content and performance standards.

ASC 5 - Summary of Recommendation Allow districts to replace state assessments with local assessments keyed to state content and performance standards.

ASC 5 - Full Recommendation Create an option for school districts to replace state assessments with local assessments keyed to state content and performance standards that are more accurate and instructionally useful for both individual students and cohorts of students than the state tests. This option permits school districts using more accurate and instructionally useful measures to substitute their data for statewide test data or give equal weight to the local data in determining whether expectations for growth of Title I students meets state performance standards and narrows the gap between targeted students and higher achieving students in meeting state performance standards.

ASC 6 - Summary of Recommendation Require states to create clear paths to the knowledge and skills students are expected to master throughout their schooling career.

ASC 6 - Full Recommendation Require states to help students, parents and teachers plan by laying out a clear path to the knowledge and skills students are expected to master throughout their schooling career.

Capacity Building, Innovation and Research & Development (CIRD)

CIRD 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

Consequences and Interventions (CI)

CI 1 - Summary of Recommendation Focus federal funds on increasing achievement among highest-poverty students.

CI 1 - Full Recommendation Focus federal dollars on supplementing local district efforts to increase achievement among the highest-poverty students.

Data Systems and Reporting (DSR)

DSR 1 - Summary of Recommendation Disaggregate and report test results by growth of student cohorts or year-to-year comparisons of percentage of students scoring at proficient level.

DSR 1 - Full Recommendation Continue disaggregating and reporting results on statewide tests either in terms of growth of cohorts of students in aggregate and in identified groups or based on year-to-year comparisons of the percentage of students scoring at the proficient level by grade levels.

DSR 2 - Summary of Recommendation Create valid reporting format for student and cohort results, disaggregated by major demographic categories for ethnicity and income.

DSR 2 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing a statistically valid reporting format for results of both individual students and cohorts of students being served by ESEA funds on statewide tests, and local option assessments, if used, of all public school students disaggregated by major demographic categories for ethnicity and income.

DSR 3 - Summary of Recommendation Continue disaggregating student achievement data to shed light on progress of student groups, including low income.

DSR 3 - Full Recommendation Require states and districts to continue disaggregating student achievement data to shed light on the progress of all student groups, including low income. Title I should focus on fairly and accurately describing the progress of low income students.

DSR 4 - Summary of Recommendation Require states and districts to disaggregate achievement for Title I students.

DSR 4 - Full Recommendation Require states and districts to disaggregate achievement data for students served by Title I ESEA funds.

Early Childhood Education (ECE)

ECE 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

English Language Learners (ELL)

ELL 1 - Summary of Recommendation Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.

ELL 1 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b)fairer to special education and English language learner (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.

Funding Issues (FI)

FI 1 - Summary of Recommendation Eliminate under-funding of federal programs by switching from grants to contracts with states and include specific compensation for activities.

FI 1 - Full Recommendation Eliminate under-funding of federal programs by changing the agreement between the federal government and states and the state and their districts from a general grant to a contract with specific compensation for each required activity involved.

FI 2 - Summary of Recommendation Focus federal funds on increasing achievement among highest-poverty students.

FI 2 - Full Recommendation Focus federal dollars on supplementing district efforts to increase achievement among the highest-poverty students.

High Schools (HS)

HS 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations indentified for this issue.

Other Programs (OP)

OP 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

Safe Schools (SS)

SS 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

School Leadership (SL)

SL 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

Students with Disabilities (SWD)

SWD 1 - Summary of Recommendation Create valid state tests for students with disabilities that are consistent with IEP benchmarks for meeting state standards.

SWD 1 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and school districts by establishing statistically valid statewide tests, and local option assessments if used, for all special education students in schools using ESEA funds that are consistent with the annual achievement benchmarks in the students Individual Education Plan (IEP) toward mastery of state content and performance standards.

SWD 2 - Summary of Recommendation Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.

SWD 2 - Full Recommendation Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b)fairer to special education and English language learner (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.

Supplemental Education Services (SES)

SES 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

Teaching Quality (TQ)

TQ 1 - Summary of Recommendation No recommendations identified for this issue.

Miscellaneous/Overarching (Misc.)

Misc. 1 - Summary of Recommendation Establish independent board to review change and waiver requests to state NCLB plans and federal responses.

Misc. 1 - Full Recommendation Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by establishing an independent review board for all state requests regarding changes and waivers to state plans and all federal action on those requests.

Misc. 2 - Summary of Recommendation Require Education Department to disclose rulings made on state plans, including change and waiver requests.

Misc. 2 - Full Recommendation Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by requiring the U.S. Department of Education to disclose every ruling made on state plans and state requests for plan changes and waivers in ESEA programs.

Misc. 3 - Summary of Recommendation Limit federal government's ability to add program requirements without appropriate regulatory process or new legislation.

Misc. 3 - Full Recommendation Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by limiting the ability of the federal government to capriciously add requirements to federal programs without a timely and meaningful regulatory process or new legislation.

Parent and Community Involvement (CPI)

© 2008 by the Education Commission of the States (ECS). All rights reserved. ECS is a nonprofit interstate compact that helps state leaders shape education policy.

To request permission to excerpt part of this publication, either in print or electronically, please fax a request to the attention of the ECS Communications Department, 303.296.8332 or e-mail ecs@ecs.org.

Helping State Leaders Shape Education Policy

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
AYP 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Establish evaluation scales to measure success/failure toward performance standards.
AYP 1 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing evaluation scales that identify degrees of success and failure to meet state performance standards.
AYP 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Vertically align state standards and allow use of AYP or benchmarks to measure student progress toward growth expectations that are based on sample of student progress.
AYP 2 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing vertically aligned state content and performance standards that permit using either adequate yearly progress as a measure of success or benchmarks for student progress that establish annual expectations for growth in achievement, based on progress of a sample of other students across the state.
AYP 3 - Summary of Recommendation	Judge school/district success based on Title I student achievement.
AYP 3 - Full Recommendation	Judge the success of districts and schools based on the achievement of students served under Title I of ESEA.
AYP 4 - Summary of Recommendation	Permit use of growth or status models to judge school/district success.
AYP 4 - Full Recommendation	Permit states and districts to use accountability systems based on either growth or status models to judge the success of districts and schools serving Title I students.
AYP 5 - Summary of Recommendation	Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.
AYP 5 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b) fairer to special education and English language learners (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.
AYP 6 - Summary of Recommendation	Permit use of local accountability system if more accurately measures successful instruction.
AYP 6 - Full Recommendation	Permit districts that have the capacity to substitute a local accountability system if the state determines that the local plan more accurately measures the effect of instruction on students and is more useful in planning future instruction.
Assessment, Standards and Curriculum (ASC)
ASC 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Continually improve state standards to ensure match skills and knowledge students expected to master in school.
ASC 1 - Full Recommendation	Review and continually improve state content and performance standards for reading, math and science to create a clear path to the skills and knowledge students are ultimately expected to master is public schools.
ASC 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Develop state tests that allow tracking progress of students and student cohorts toward performance standards and AYP targets.
ASC 2 - Full Recommendation	Develop statewide tests that permit charting the academic progress of both individual students and cohorts of students toward achieving state performance standards or comparing the percentage of students making adequate yearly progress by scoring at the proficient level on annual test scores.
ASC 3 - Summary of Recommendation	Vertically align state standards and allow use of AYP or benchmarks to measure student progress toward growth expectations that are based on sample of student progress.
ASC 3 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing vertically aligned state content and performance standards that permit using either adequate yearly progress as a measure of success or benchmarks for student progress that establish annual expectations for growth in achievement, based on progress of a sample of other students across the state.
ASC 4 - Summary of Recommendation	Create valid state tests for students with disabilities that are consistent with IEP benchmarks for meeting state standards.
ASC 4 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and school districts by establishing statistically valid statewide tests, and local option assessments if used, for all special education students in schools using ESEA funds that are consistent with the annual achievement benchmarks in the students Individual Education Plan (IEP) toward mastery of state content and performance standards.
ASC 5 - Summary of Recommendation	Allow districts to replace state assessments with local assessments keyed to state content and performance standards.
ASC 5 - Full Recommendation	Create an option for school districts to replace state assessments with local assessments keyed to state content and performance standards that are more accurate and instructionally useful for both individual students and cohorts of students than the state tests. This option permits school districts using more accurate and instructionally useful measures to substitute their data for statewide test data or give equal weight to the local data in determining whether expectations for growth of Title I students meets state performance standards and narrows the gap between targeted students and higher achieving students in meeting state performance standards.
ASC 6 - Summary of Recommendation	Require states to create clear paths to the knowledge and skills students are expected to master throughout their schooling career.
ASC 6 - Full Recommendation	Require states to help students, parents and teachers plan by laying out a clear path to the knowledge and skills students are expected to master throughout their schooling career.
Capacity Building, Innovation and Research & Development (CIRD)
CIRD 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
Consequences and Interventions (CI)
CI 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Focus federal funds on increasing achievement among highest-poverty students.
CI 1 - Full Recommendation	Focus federal dollars on supplementing local district efforts to increase achievement among the highest-poverty students.
Data Systems and Reporting (DSR)
DSR 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Disaggregate and report test results by growth of student cohorts or year-to-year comparisons of percentage of students scoring at proficient level.
DSR 1 - Full Recommendation	Continue disaggregating and reporting results on statewide tests either in terms of growth of cohorts of students in aggregate and in identified groups or based on year-to-year comparisons of the percentage of students scoring at the proficient level by grade levels.
DSR 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Create valid reporting format for student and cohort results, disaggregated by major demographic categories for ethnicity and income.
DSR 2 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and districts by establishing a statistically valid reporting format for results of both individual students and cohorts of students being served by ESEA funds on statewide tests, and local option assessments, if used, of all public school students disaggregated by major demographic categories for ethnicity and income.
DSR 3 - Summary of Recommendation	Continue disaggregating student achievement data to shed light on progress of student groups, including low income.
DSR 3 - Full Recommendation	Require states and districts to continue disaggregating student achievement data to shed light on the progress of all student groups, including low income. Title I should focus on fairly and accurately describing the progress of low income students.
DSR 4 - Summary of Recommendation	Require states and districts to disaggregate achievement for Title I students.
DSR 4 - Full Recommendation	Require states and districts to disaggregate achievement data for students served by Title I ESEA funds.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
ECE 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
English Language Learners (ELL)
ELL 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.
ELL 1 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b)fairer to special education and English language learner (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.
Funding Issues (FI)
FI 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Eliminate under-funding of federal programs by switching from grants to contracts with states and include specific compensation for activities.
FI 1 - Full Recommendation	Eliminate under-funding of federal programs by changing the agreement between the federal government and states and the state and their districts from a general grant to a contract with specific compensation for each required activity involved.
FI 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Focus federal funds on increasing achievement among highest-poverty students.
FI 2 - Full Recommendation	Focus federal dollars on supplementing district efforts to increase achievement among the highest-poverty students.
High Schools (HS)
HS 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations indentified for this issue.
Other Programs (OP)
OP 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
Safe Schools (SS)
SS 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
School Leadership (SL)
SL 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
Students with Disabilities (SWD)
SWD 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Create valid state tests for students with disabilities that are consistent with IEP benchmarks for meeting state standards.
SWD 1 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems to more accurately evaluate the performance of schools and school districts by establishing statistically valid statewide tests, and local option assessments if used, for all special education students in schools using ESEA funds that are consistent with the annual achievement benchmarks in the students Individual Education Plan (IEP) toward mastery of state content and performance standards.
SWD 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Identify struggling schools on continuum of success, target assistance to highest need students and tailor accountability systems to needs of students with disabilities and ELL students.
SWD 2 - Full Recommendation	Improve state accountability systems by making them: (a) more accurate in identifying schools on a continuum of success in raising achievement of Title I students and targeting assistance to schools most in need and (b)fairer to special education and English language learner (ELL) students by tailoring the accountability requirements and assessments to their individual needs.
Supplemental Education Services (SES)
SES 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
Teaching Quality (TQ)
TQ 1 - Summary of Recommendation	No recommendations identified for this issue.
Miscellaneous/Overarching (Misc.)
Misc. 1 - Summary of Recommendation	Establish independent board to review change and waiver requests to state NCLB plans and federal responses.
Misc. 1 - Full Recommendation	Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by establishing an independent review board for all state requests regarding changes and waivers to state plans and all federal action on those requests.
Misc. 2 - Summary of Recommendation	Require Education Department to disclose rulings made on state plans, including change and waiver requests.
Misc. 2 - Full Recommendation	Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by requiring the U.S. Department of Education to disclose every ruling made on state plans and state requests for plan changes and waivers in ESEA programs.
Misc. 3 - Summary of Recommendation	Limit federal government's ability to add program requirements without appropriate regulatory process or new legislation.
Misc. 3 - Full Recommendation	Ensure transparent and fair federal oversight of ESEA by limiting the ability of the federal government to capriciously add requirements to federal programs without a timely and meaningful regulatory process or new legislation.
Parent and Community Involvement (CPI)