Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 5 perpetuates the same serious flaw with the accountability systems as in No Child Left Behind, which deters high-quality teachers from joining low-performing schools. We need to remediate this problem. The current accountability system discourages quality teachers from joining low-performing schools because they are warned that if their students are not considered proficient then they will suffer adverse consequences. As it stands, if a student starts seventh grade at a fourth grade reading level, works diligently with their teacher, and then achieves a sixth grade level by the end of the school year, that student will not be deemed proficient, and both the teacher and the school would be negatively impacted. My amendment would change that. My amendment would require that annual statewide assessments measure students' growth as a crucial component of the achievement within the accountability system established by the State. It would leave it to the State to decide their own measurement of growth, so they can measure an individual student's learning progress and not give an entire school one score based on the amount of the students who are deemed proficient in particular subjects. I believe high-quality teachers would be more willing to join schools composed of a significant amount of students not meeting proficiency standards.…”