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Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming) announced new legislation to revamp the 2001 No Child Left Behind constabulary yesterday, garnering some strong reactions from the education policy earth. The senators said the 865-folio nib would provide more than support to "dropout factories," which they defined as schools with a graduation rate of less than lx percent, and would scrap a central NCLB measurement called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), replacing it with a hope from states to make "continuous improvement." Some are praising the bill for putting more command back into the hands of states, while others believe it lacks clear goals. Some reactions:

RiShawn Biddle, who writes the conservative blog Dropout Nation, warned confronting lowering accountability and said the new neb was opposite to traditional Republican views on education.

"Stepping back accountability at the federal level — peculiarly when congressional leaders are unwilling to forcefulness states to adopt Common Core standards in reading and mathematics — means setting dorsum reforms, especially the very school selection measures Republicans and conservatives proclaim they back up," Biddle wrote. "But these days, when it comes to No Child, the plans existence offered for its re-dominance only declare that helping all children succeed in schoolhouse and life is not in anyone's thoughts."

The national teachers unions, The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, both came out in back up of the new legislation. The AFT released a argument maxim it recognizes the demand for college standards and more robust teacher evaluation systems.

The AFT: "The Harkin-Enzi proposal attempts to address a broken accountability organisation and acknowledges the importance of adopting higher standards, including the Common Core State Standards."

Education Sector, a think tank, praised the elimination of the "unattainable target similar 100% proficiency by 2014" under AYP, but was disappointed that there is  "no new accountability yardstick in place." It besides offered an initial analysis of other elements of the bill here.

Bob Wise, president of The Alliance for Quality Education, thought that the bill was a step in the correct direction, peculiarly in how it will deal with "dropout factories."

"The legislation unveiled today by Senators Harkin and Enzi is especially important for the nation's high schools. For too long, high schools have been overlooked by federal education policy. This proposal would concentrate improvement efforts on high schools with graduation rates below lx pct, oft referred to every bit 'dropout factories.' It would establish a common, accurate calculation of graduation rates, helping to ensure that the nation's high schools are held accountable for preparing students for college and careers. Information technology would also support comprehensive efforts by states to strengthen the literacy skills of all students, including young people in high school."

Six organizations, The Education Trust, Children's Defense force Fund, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Man Rights, The National Quango of La Raza, The Center for American Progress Action Fund and The National Center for Learning Disabilities sent a joint letter to Senator Harkinexpressing their concerns that the bill's achievement goals are vague and could harm special-needs students.

"The loss of goals and progress targets would dismantle the positive aspects of NCLB's accountability system and be a significant stride backward that we can sick afford to accept," the alphabetic character said. "Your proposal contains much that could help low-income students, students with disabilities, students of color and English-language learners. But without goals and progress targets information technology is all but impossible to ensure that these good intentions volition actually add up to better outcomes for students."

Grover Whitehurst, a senior boyfriend at the Brookings Institution, told theNew York Times:

"Harkin'southward nib would render control to the state departments of education and the local school districts, and they're the ones that got u.s.a. into the mess that No Child was designed to prepare," Whitehurst said. "Districts and states accept non been effective in delivering quality education to children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, so why should we think they'll exist effective this time around?"

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Nick Pandolfo writes for The Hechinger Written report. A native of New York Metropolis, he majored in teaching at Eugene Lang College and later taught ESL for 4 years in New York, China and South korea. Before inbound...