The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a September 10 hearing on the implementation of Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110) enacted last year. The law renewed federal education programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Title I is the largest program under the ESEA and provides additional resources targeted to schools with large numbers of disadvantaged and low-income students. The program is designed to provide opportunities for educationally disadvantaged students to achieve the same high academic standards as all students. The President’s FY2003 budget would provide $11.4 billion for Title I, a $1 billion increase over FY2002.
In his opening remarks, Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-MA) noted that the Administration is working to finalize draft regulations “so that states, districts, teachers, and parents will have a clearer sense of what is expected of them under the law.” He added, “I hope that the final regulations will protect the rights of teachers as workers, will uphold the law with reasonable public school choice provisions, and will ensure that supplemental service providers are held to a standard of quality and that they must serve all children.”
Secretary of Education for Virginia Belle Wheelan told the committee that her agency has been working to address the major requirements of the new law. For instance, Virginia has identified 34 Title I schools “as needing improvement under the Leave No Child Behind Act and thus required to implement public school choice this school year.”
“There are challenges to providing public school choice,” she continued, pointing out that school capacity and distances between schools can make it difficult to implement a successful public school choice program. “In some of our urban divisions with schools in improvement, potential receiving schools have limited space, or there are no qualified receiving schools,” she explained. “Moreover, in rural southwest Virginia, distances between schools within a division can be significant, and the time needed for transportation becomes a barrier to choice,” she added.
Secretary Wheelan also testified that Virginia, in accordance with the Act, is making efforts to ensure that every classroom has a “highly qualified” teacher in a core academic course. She explained that, in Virginia, “a “highly qualified” teacher is defined as one who is fully licensed by the state and teaching in his or her area of endorsement.”
She emphasized that Virginia could use some federal aid to recruit, retain, and prepare qualified teachers, “especially in light of the current budget shortfalls we are facing at the state level.” She recommended that states should have the flexibility to “use federal monies in a variety of ways, from financial incentives for recruitment and placement, to training in instructional methods, to professional development in leadership for principals.”
“What recommendations can you make from out in the field in terms of the No Child Left Behind Act?” asked Sen. Kennedy.
“Top teachers are rare in poor schools,” responded Secretary Wheelan. “Teachers must be paid more. There’s no way we’re going to magically improve teacher quality without more money,” she stated.
Providing an historical perspective on teacher salaries, she concluded, “Teaching started out as a woman’s profession, and it was thought that women didn’t need as much money.” She added, “Therefore, we really haven’t caught up.”
Wanda Gaddis of the Bruce-Monroe Elementary School in Washington, D.C. also testified before the committee. She emphasized that parents are an important reform tool in the implementation of the ESEA. She recommended that in order to effectively carry out Title I programs, parents should be involved in the education of their children. “All parents can promote literacy,” she said.
She also highlighted the need for sufficient resources to implement Title I programs. “Only one-third of all children who are eligible for Title I programs are served,” she said. The reality is that “states and local communities cannot do it alone,” she emphasized, and added that Title I needs to be funded at a level that meets the needs of all the eligible children.
Additionally, Bill Maloney of the Colorado Department of Education testified that he was “present at the creation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965.” He said that the No Child Left Behind Act is different and marks a change from other federal education legislation. “Its unambiguous insistence on results marked a historic shift from a climate of process and entitlement to one of stark accountability for the well-being of children,” he added.
The hearing was the second in a series of hearings by the committee on the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act.
