Board of Directors OK's New Headquarters

Call to Action: Contact Senator Lautenberg Re: NCLB Reauthorization

NJSBA Seeks Input on 'Burden of Proof' Bill

NJSBA Seeking Executive Director

Board of Directors Highlights

Commissioner Urges Boards to Attend Funding Meetings

Sign Up for Certified Board Leader Courses: July 14

Work Together to Build a Quality Leadership Team

Seeking Workshop Volunteers

Delegates in Focus

NJSBA Online

Calendar

Click here for a pdf version of this issue of School Board Notes

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is in the process of drafting legislation for the reauthorization of NCLB.  NSBA forwarded 45 recommendations for improving NCLB to the members of the committee, and we need for these recommendations to be included in their committee bill.  You may access the recommendations here. 

Senator Frank Lautenberg has shown support for public education with S. 15, Quality Education for All Act and S. 724, No Child Left Behind Reform Act in the 109^th Congress.  The bills included the following provisions in line with two of NSBA’s recommendations: 

• AYP Alternate Measurement and Growth Models:
  • #8: The basic Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system should be expanded to include gain score approaches that take into consideration the progress students make from year to year when calculating AYP.
    
    
  • #9: States should be able to use this alternate method of measuring AYP for schools and school districts instead of the existing status methodology, providing that the state accountability system is based on attaining 100 percent proficiency by 2014 and using intermediate goals.
    
    
• Public School Choice: Student Eligibility:    
  • #25: Transfer options should be available only to low-achieving students within the subgroups that did not make AYP, not all students in a school.
    
    
• Supplemental Educational Services (SES): Student Eligibility
  • #30: SES need only be offered to low-achieving students within specific subgroups that fail to make AYP in the same subject for two or more years.
    
    
• Highly Qualified Teacher Determinations: Social Studies Teachers:
  • #44: Streamline existing Highly Qualified Teacher requirements for social studies teachers so that teachers receiving a “broad field” state certification in social studies are considered highly qualified without needing an academic major or certification in multiple, specific social studies subjects such as geography, history, civics and government, and economics. 

Please contact Senator Lautenberg as soon as possible and urge him to discuss with his colleagues on the committee the importance of including NSBA’s recommendations in the committee bill.  For your convenience, we created a sample letter which you may modify to send to your member. 

In addition, please share your communication and feedback with Kathleen Branch of the NSBA Office of Advocacy at Kbranch@nsba.org or (800) 609-NSBA.

We greatly appreciate your help!