ESEA Law as it is Now

The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was renewed by Congress and signed into law last winter. The main provisions of the law focus on academic improvement, annual testing, teacher and paraprofessional quality, and other academic programs. Final regulations are designed to be a roadmap for states and school districts as they follow the law's timeline for meeting new requirements.

Adequate Yearly Progress

The adequate yearly progress (AYP) provisions are among the more complex requirements of ESEA. What the law says "States must establish a baseline or starting point they will use to measure their progress over the next 12 years in meeting a key goal: That all students are performing at a "proficient" level or above on state reading and math assessments by 2013-14."

States must also:

• determine how they will define "proficient" student performance in reading and math
• decide what indicators of student performance they will include in their definitions of AYP
• set incremental AYP targets that establish minimal levels of increased student performance from 2002-03 through 2013-14
• set an initial threshold that is at a minimum the higher of the percent of students proficient in the statewide lowest achieving subgroup or the local school at the 20th percentile in the state.

You can ask:

• How will your state define AYP?
• What baseline will your state use to determine whether schools and districts make AYP in reading and math as ESEA requires?
• How will your state establish intermediate AYP targets that schools and districts must meet in reading and math between now and 2013-14?
• Does your state plan on exercising the option of averaging students' test scores over two or three years to determine if schools and districts make AYP?

Pose these questions to the appropriate entity in your state, such as the state department of education, the state board and key legislative committees. Go to the Other Resources section for more information on how to contact these agencies.

Testing and Assessments

For the first time, ESEA requires states to test all students each year in grades 3-8 and at least once in grades 9-12 in math and reading. The tests must be in place by the 2005-06 school year. In addition, states must administer science tests at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12 by 2007-08. These state assessments will be the primary source of information used to determine whether schools, districts, and states make "adequate yearly progress" toward having all students performing at the "proficient" level or above by the 2013-2014 school year.

ED has issued federal regulations -- which go into effect Aug. 5, 2002. They are designed to be a roadmap for states and school districts as they comply with the law's expanded requirements. Despite the guidance, the regulations still give local officials freedom to design their own standards and tests -- leaving a patchwork that will vary across the country.

What the law says. "States must develop and begin administering tests in math and reading to all students in grades 3-8 and once to all students in grades 9-12, beginning with the 2005-06 school year."

States must also:

• administer science assessments to all students once in grades 3-5, 6-9 and 9-12, beginning with the 2007-08 school year.
• design or purchase tests that are aligned with state content and performance standards. If standards span more than one grade, teachers must be informed as to what portion of those multi-grade standards are to be taught at each grade. · design or purchase tests that are the same for all children (with appropriate accommodations as needed), but are valid and accessible for all students, including students with limited English proficiency and students with disabilities.
• design or purchase tests that are consistent with nationally recognized professional and technical standards, use multiple measures that include higher-order thinking skills. Tests must also objectively measure academic achievement, knowledge and skills without evaluating or assessing family beliefs and attitudes.
• must produce and provide individual reports of student performance to parents, teachers, and principals in a comprehensible and uniform format. States must also make assessment results to schools no later than the beginning of the following school year, beginning with 2002-03.
• must all participate in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). If Congress appropriates sufficient funds, beginning in 2002-03 states must participate in NAEP reading and mathematics assessments at grades 4 and 8 every two years. Until now, state participation in NAEP has been voluntary. ED is expected to use NAEP to confirm state test results in reading and math.

You can ask:

• How close is your state to measuring all of its content standards by assessments?
• Who will align assessments with standards, and how?
• Who will set cut scores or determine performance levels on these assessments, and how?
• How will teachers and other educators find out which standards, skills and knowledge are assessed and which are not?
• Will the state augment national (or norm-referenced) tests with items that are aligned with state standards?
• Will test items measure higher-order thinking skills?
• Will assessments be valid for each student population tested, with appropriate accommodations (or alternative assessments) as needed?
• How will results be reported for individual students, reported at the state, district and school levels, and reported by gender, race, ethnicity, migrant status, English proficiency, disability and socioeconomic status?

Pose these questions to the appropriate entity in your state, such as the state department of education, the state board and key legislative committees.

Teacher and Para-educator Quality

The reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has new provisions that will have a dramatic impact on the work of teachers and education support professionals.

What the law says. "States must ensure that teachers and paraeducators meet certain qualifications spelled out in the law. Teachers (including those with certification from alternative routes) must be "highly qualified" in the subjects they teach by the end of the 2005-06 school year. All paraprofessionals in Title I funded programs must meet the new paraprofessional requirements"

States must also ensure that:

• All teachers are high qualified by being fully licensed or certified by the state, and not having any certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary or provisional basis.
• New elementary teachers have at least a bachelor's degree, and pass a state test demonstrating subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics and other areas of any basic elementary school curriculum
• New middle or secondary teachers must have at least a bachelor's degree, and demonstrate competency in each of the academic subjects taught, OR complete an academic major or coursework equivalent to a major, OR a graduate degree in each of the academic areas in which the teacher teaches, OR advanced certification.
• Existing elementary, middle and secondary teachers must have at least a bachelor's degree, and meet the requirements for new teachers described above, OR demonstrate competency in all subjects taught through a uniform state evaluation standard.
• All Title I paraprofessionals must have a high school diploma or the equivalent and prove that they are highly qualified. There are three ways that paraprofessionals may prove they are highly qualified: complete an associate degree OR complete two years of college OR demonstrate knowledge of reading, writing and math and the ability to assist in instructing these subjects.

You can ask:

• What information will be included in school report cards and how will that information be publicly disclosed?
• How can you work with the districts on the testing issues, including the use of outside consultants to develop sound testing guidelines and approaches?
• To have spelled out policies and procedures for administration of student tests, including specifying who will administer tests.

You can play a meaningful role:

• in establishing district responses if and when goals for higher qualified teachers are not met
• in ensuring that teachers and paraeducators administering tests are properly trained, compensated and appropriately protected against penalties for errors in test administration
• in determining how teachers will be assessed under the new requirements and how districts and states will govern public disclosure of data on teacher qualifications mandated in the law in detailing members' protections from punitive sanctions.

Pose these questions to the appropriate entity in your state, such as the state department of education, the state board and key legislative committees.

General ESEA Timeline

School year 2001-02

Elementary and Secondary Education Act signed into law as Public Law 107-110 on January 8, 2002. All paraprofessionals hired after this date for Title I funded programs must meet the new paraprofessional requirements.

School year 2002-03

• States must establish initial proficiency threshold for schools meeting Adequate Yearly Progress.
• States must administer language proficiency tests to all limited-English proficient students.
• All teachers hired for the first day of the 2002-2003 school year who are working in a program supported by Title I, Part A shall be "highly qualified." · States must use 2 percent of Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.
• LEAs must spend between 5 and 10 percent of such funds to ensure that teachers become highly qualified by the end of 2005-2006 school year.

School year 2003-04

• All new migrant education funds will be based on actual counts of migratory children.
• 2004 Targeted Assistance Grants become available.
• States must continue to use 2 percent of their Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.
• LEAs must continue to spend between 5 and 10 percent of such funds to ensure that teachers become highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

School year 2004-05

• First year of Targeted Assistance grants under Reading First program.
• States must use 4 percent of their Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.
• LEAs must spend 5 percent of such funds to ensure that teachers become "highly qualified" by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
• SEAs must determine LEAs that have failed for two consecutive years to make progress toward the goal of all teachers being highly qualified by the end of the 2005-2006 school year, develop an improvement plan to help the LEA and provide technical assistance.

School year 2005-06

• All paraprofessionals hired prior to Jan. 8, 2002 working in Title I programs must meet the paraprofessional requirements by Jan. 6, 2006.
• States must have assessments for reading/language arts and math in grades 3-8 and in one between 10th and 12th grades.
• States must develop science standards.
• States must continue to use 4 percent of their Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.
• LEAs must continue to spend 5 percent of such funds to help teachers who are not highly qualified become so by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
• Teachers of core academic subjects must be "highly qualified" by the end of this year.

School year 2006-07 States must continue to use 4 percent of their Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.

School year 2007-08

• States must assess science in one grade between 3rd-5th, 6th-8th and 10th-12th.
• States must continue to use 4 percent of their Title I, Part A funds for school improvement.

School year 2013-14 States must meet 12-year goal to have all students proficient in reading/language arts, math and science