Political Quotes

“No Child Left Behind's metrics are outdated and rigid. On that we agree. But H.R. 5 in its current form abandons provisions that are crucial to ensuring equal educational opportunities for all of our Nation's students. My amendment advances a more comprehensive and effective vision of accountability at the school district and State levels. This new language expects States to set college- and career-ready standards rather than to allow them to dumb down their standards in order to inflate their results. It also requires States to set performance growth and graduation rate targets that ensure that schools improve every year for all subgroups, including for students with disabilities. One of the major deficiencies in H.R. 5 and one of the reasons that all of the advocacy groups for students with learning disabilities oppose the bill is it effectively removes the accountability we have for students with disabilities to ensure that they continue to learn. There is currently a 1 percent cap on the students with the most severe disabilities who are not tested. H.R. 5 would eliminate the 1 percent cap on alternative assessments based on alternative achievement standards and would remove it altogether, allowing, ultimately, schools and States to decide not to have any accountability for those students who need programs that meet their learning needs the most.…”