K12> New NCLB Provision Increases Flexibility, Ensures All Children Co unt, Including Those with Disabilities

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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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From: "Winters, Kirk" <Kirk.Winters@xxxxxx>
To: "Information from & about the U.S. Department of Education  publications &
more ." <edinfo@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: New NCLB Provision Increases Flexibility, Ensures All Children Co
         unt, Including Those with Disabilities
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 11:20:52 -0500


      SECRETARY PAIGE ANNOUNCED today a new provision of No Child
      Left Behind that will give local school districts greater
      flexibility in meeting the act's requirements for students
      with disabilities.

      That provision (final rule), as well as a fact sheet &
      webcast, are available at
      http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2003/12/12092003.html.

      The press release is below.

=================================================
New No Child Left Behind Provision Gives Schools
Increased Flexibility While Ensuring All Children
Count, Including Those with Disabilities
U.S. Department of Education
December 9, 2003
=================================================

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced a new
provision of the No Child Left Behind education reform law that
will give local school districts greater flexibility in meeting the
act's requirements for students with disabilities.  The secretary
made the announcement at a press conference with Special Olympics
founder Eunice Shriver, House Education & Workforce Committee
Chairman John Boehner & students with disabilities, their parents,
relatives & teachers.

Under final rules to be published in today's Federal Register,
states, school districts & schools will have the flexibility to
count the "proficient" scores of students with the most significant
cognitive disabilities who take assessments based on alternate
achievement standards.

Without this flexibility, those scores would have to be measured
against grade-level standards & considered "not proficient" when
states measure adequate yearly progress (AYP).  The number of those
proficient scores may not exceed 1 percent of all students in the
grades tested (about 9 percent of students with disabilities).

In other words, those students will be assessed by their
achievement of standards deemed appropriate for their intellectual
development, thus allowing states to more accurately gauge their
progress.  All students -- including students with disabilities --
deserve teachers who believe in their potential & who will
encourage them to make progress, just as all parents & teachers
ought to have the assessment information they need to target their
efforts & provide all students a high-quality education.

Nationally, about 9 percent of the total student population is
served in special education, of which about 9 percent have the most
significant cognitive disabilities.

"The No Child Left Behind Act is designed to ensure that all
children receive a quality education in this country -- & that
means every single child, including those with disabilities," said
U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige.  "This provision strengthens
two key promises of the law: accountability & flexibility.  It
rightly protects all parents' ability to receive information about
their child's progress in school, while providing new flexibility
for schools & districts in accounting for the progress made by all
students, including those with the most significant cognitive
disabilities."

The provision does not limit how many students can be tested with
an alternate assessment; it limits only the number of scores based
on alternate achievement standards that can be included as
proficient in AYP measurement calculations.  The new guidelines,
which still call for the alternate achievement standards to be tied
to state academic content standards, also allow states & school
districts to exceed the 1-percent limit if they can demonstrate
that they have a larger population of students with the most
significant cognitive disabilities.  Individual schools are not
subject to the 1-percent cap as it applies only to district & state
accountability decisions.

No Child Left Behind & the regulation build on the 1997 Individuals
with Disabilities Act (IDEA) amendments -- which mandates that all
students with disabilities must be tested -- by ensuring that
schools, districts & states receive credit under AYP for students
who are tested against different achievement standards.

"All students -- including those with disabilities -- deserve
teachers who believe in their potential & who will encourage them
to make progress, just as all parents & teachers ought to have the
assessment information they need to target their efforts & provide
all students a high-quality education," Paige said.

The new provision was originally proposed by the department &
published in the Federal Register on March 20.  About 100 comments
were received from local school officials, parents & others, & were
reviewed as part of the process leading to the development of the
final regulations.

A significant change from the proposed regulation is the
elimination of a definition of students with significant cognitive
disabilities.  Rather, states will define this group of students.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools must show adequate
yearly progress in making sure that all students achieve academic
proficiency in order to close the achievement gap.  To help
evaluate progress, the law provides historic levels of funding for
states to design & implement annual tests for all children --
regardless of race, income or disability -- to let parents know the
quality of the education their children are receiving.

"For some students, `proficiency' may look a lot different than it
does for other students, but frequent assessments of progress
meeting state standards are an important part of the educational
process & no student should be excluded," Paige said.

Instead, he said accommodations such as increased time or the use
of assistive technology can be provided to ensure the unique needs
of children with disabilities are taken into account as they
participate with their peers in the assessment process.

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           Kirk Winters & Peter Kickbush
           U.S. Department of Education
           kirk.winters@xxxxxx

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