NCJ Number
223695
Date Published
April 2008
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This booklet presents the new regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Education for achieving the goal of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which is to reform education in States and school districts so as to improve student achievement.
Abstract
The new regulations are intended to build on the advancements of State assessment and accountability systems and strengthen the public school choice and supplemental educational services provided for under the NCLB. Eight regulations pertain to assessments, accountability, and transparency. One regulation clarifies the use of multiple measures of student academic achievement. Another regulation creates a National Technical Advisory Council to advise the Education Secretary on key technical issues related to State standards, assessments, and accountability systems. Other regulations regarding assessments, accountability, and transparency pertain to minimum subgroup size and inclusion of students in accountability, the inclusion on State and local report cards of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a uniform definition of “graduation rate,” disaggregation of graduation rates, the inclusion of individual student growth in adequate yearly progress (AYP), same subjects-same subgroup identification for improvement, and restructuring. Eight regulations pertain to supplemental education services (SES) and public school choice. One regulation requires timely notification to parents regarding public school choice and SES. Another regulation requires access to information on district implementation of public school choice and SES. A third regulation requires States to develop, implement, and publicly report the standards and techniques they use to monitor how districts implement the SES requirements. Other regulations pertinent to SES and public school choice address the SES provider approval process, State monitoring of SES provider effectiveness, costs for parent outreach, the use of funds for public school choice and SES, and a cross-reference to the definition of “highly qualified special education teachers.”