WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Senate debates legislation to reform the No Child Left Behind law this week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) outlined his priorities to improve education in Ohio. Brown has introduced a number of provisions that are expected to be included in the Every Child Achieves Act, legislation the Senate is currently considering which seeks to reform and improve the No Child Left Behind law. During a news conference call today, Brown outlined three priorities he will work to include in the final bill.

“We owe it to children and taxpayers to ensure that education provided in all of our classrooms is effective – no matter where those classrooms are,” Brown said. “This bill is an opportunity to strengthen public education in Ohio, and I’m working on a number of provisions to ensure that all children have access to a quality education.”

Support Making Assessments Reliable and Timely (SMART) Act

The Support Making Assessments Reliable and Timely (SMART) Act would reduce duplicative and unnecessary testing by streamlining and improving testing practices in our nation’s classrooms. The bill aims to improve mandatory state assessments and ensure they are efficiently and accurately measuring students’ progress and teacher effectiveness. 

“Annual testing can be a useful yardstick to measure student achievement,” Brown said. “But too often our students are inundated with duplicative tests. Excessive testing discourages learning and impedes instruction. By aligning tests so that instruction is not interrupted, teachers will remain accountable and parents can rest assured that their children are not undergoing duplicative testing.”

Specifically, the legislation would update an existing grant formula to assist states and local education agencies in aligning testing materials to college- and career-ready standards. The funding can also be used to speed delivery of test data to educators and parents – providing more time for educators to design instruction based on test results. Additionally, states can undertake audits of existing practices to eliminate unnecessary assessments, design more effective systems, and amplify the effectiveness of remaining exams to support educators.

A version of this legislation was adopted unanimously during committee markup of the Every Child Achieves Act.

Charter School Accountability Act

Ohio is home to nearly 400 taxpayer-funded charter schools that educate approximately 123,000 students, but has been called the “Wild West” of charter schools due to problems at many for-profit charter schools and the need for more transparency and accountability. Portions of the Charter School Accountability Act are expected to be included in the Every Child Achieves Act.

Brown’s Charter School Accountability Act would increase the amount of accountability, transparency, and community involvement in Ohio’s charter schools and help ensure a high-quality education for every child.

“While most educators at charter schools are working hard to meet the needs of students, the lack of oversight has allowed problems of fraud and abuse to fester at some institutions,” Brown said. “By strengthening charter school accountability and transparency, and increasing community involvement we can prevent fraud and ensure all of Ohio’s children receive the education they deserve.”

Specifically, the legislation would:

  • Improve accountability by strengthening transparency and disclosure measures for charter schools. It would require both independent financial audits and public disclosures about important financial information, like charter documents, performance agreements between the school and its authorizer, the school’s program and mission, student discipline policies and processes, and annual student and teacher attrition rates. The bill also requires disaggregated data on disciplinary actions, student recruitment, admission, and retention.
  • Increase state educational agencies’ charter school accountability measures. The legislation would require that states have performance standards for charter school authorizers, data on charter school closures, denials of renewals, and canceled charters. States must also have the authority to suspend or revoke a charter school’s authorization based on poor performance or violating policies. Additionally, states must have clear conflict of interest laws for school employees and establish fiduciary duties for officers, directors, managers, and employees of charter schools.
  • Requires charter schools to have parent and community buy-in. The legislation would ensure charter schools solicit and consider input from parents and community members on how to implement and operate charter schools. This bill also requires that entities receiving federal funds submit plans and descriptions detailing community and parent involvement in the planning, opening, and operation of charter schools. For traditional public schools applying to convert to charter school status, the bill requires that there is demonstrated support of the conversion by two-thirds of the families attending the school and two-thirds of the school staff. It also calls for charter school authorizers to provide impact statements and reports on the role charter schools have on the overall schools system and provide information on student enrollment trends.

Core Opportunity Resources for Equity and Excellence (CORE) Act

Based on his Core Opportunity Resources for Equity and Excellence (CORE) Act, Brown is fighting for an amendment that would tackle existing disparities in public education by establishing accountability requirements that compel states and school districts to give all students equitable access to the core resources necessary to achieve college and career readiness. 

The Opportunity Dashboard of Core Resources amendment would establish accountability measures of school quality beyond students’ ability to perform well on standardized tests. Under the amendment, state accountability systems would be required to include measures of fair and equitable access to the core resources for learning, as well as a plan for identifying and addressing any inequities in access to them. Information about access to these resources would also be reflected on state and district report cards. 

“Too many teachers and schools lack the resources to ensure students can grow and succeed,” Brown said. “That’s why this amendment is so important – not just to close the achievement gap but also to raise the bar for all of America’s students. The amendment would improve access to better trained teachers, to better curricula, and to the opportunity that all students deserve, regardless of their zip code.”

Brown introduced the CORE Act with Senator Jack Reed (D-RI). A one pager on the amendment can be found here.

 

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