U.S. Department of Education Seeks to Amend NCLB

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings released 16 proposed regulations that would clarify or amend the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Proposed Changes
The list of Secretary Spellings’ proposed regulations hits on most of the controversial aspects of NCLB, including assessment, accountability, public school choice, and supplemental educational services.  The U.S. Department of Education will accept public comments on its proposed regulations until June 23, 2008.  (Check http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml for information on how to submit comments.)

Among the proposed changes, Spellings addresses:

• assessments and multiple measures,
• state assessment and accountability systems, 
• minimum subgroup size,
• inclusion of NAEP data on state and local report cards,
• uniform graduation rates,
• inclusion of individual student growth in AYP,
• same subject-same subgroup identification for improvement,
• restructuring,
• timely and clear notification to parents,
• access to information on public school choice and supplemental education services (SES),
• state monitoring of districts’ SES,
• SES provider approval process,
• state monitoring of SES provider effectiveness,
• the cost of parent outreach (for choice and SES),
• use of funds for public school choice and SES, and
• highly qualified special education teachers

Graduation Project Summit

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will sponsor a Two-Day North Carolina Graduation Project (NCGP) Summit to be held in conjunction with the Personal and Financial Literacy Summit on June19-20, 2008. Check-in will begin at 8:00 a.m. with the opening session to begin at 9:00 a.m. Sessions will go the first day until 3:30 with an optional Evening Work Session. The second day will be from 8:30 until 1:00. Participants will be provided with a North Carolina Graduation Project Implementation Guide and promotional DVD. Sessions for the Graduation Project participants will focus on aligning the NCGP requirements with elementary and middle school, documenting the NCGP, orienting others to the Project and alignment with the NC Standard Course of Study, Business and NCGP relationships, and preparing NCGP mentors and evaluators, and transitioning current Senior Project schools to the NCGP implementation by 2009-10. High schools, especially those that have not yet received training or are just beginning to implement the NCGP, are strongly encouraged to send a team of up to five individuals to the conference.

 

A non-refundable registration fee of $50.00 per person must be received on or before May 30, 2008. Forms receive dafter May 30, 2008 will be placed on a waiting list and accepted only if space should become available.

 

For registration material please contact Bernadette Cole at 919.907.3847 or bcole@dpi.state.nc.us