Nevadans encouraged by education law changes

Friday, April 8, 2005 | 9:47 a.m.

Nevada education officials were cautiously optimistic Thursday after an announcement by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings that she would consider requests from states to loosen some of the more rigid requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Spellings pledged Thursday to take a more sensible approach to enforcing the law, starting with allowing many more children with disabilities to be held to different academic standards. The flexibility isn't open to all states, only to those that prove they are committed to President Bush's education law, mainly by raising test scores.

"States that understand this new way of doing things will be gratified," Spellings told state school chiefs and other education leaders invited to hear her announcement.

"It makes sense, plain and simple," she said. "Others looking for loopholes to simply take the federal funds, ignore the intent of the law and have minimal results to show for their millions of dollars in federal funds will think otherwise and be disappointed."

Spellings' announcement was viewed by many as a concession to the chorus of complaints that have dogged President Bush's education reform since it was enacted in January 2002.

"It shows that they're hearing us," said Charlene Green, associate superintendent of student support services for the Clark County School District. "How all of this is actually going to be implemented, however, is still a 'wait and see' situation."

In December 2003 Spellings' predecessor, Rod Paige, announced that schools would be allowed to provide special accommodations for the top 1 percent of its most severely disabled students. Spellings said the federal education department will now allow states to develop modified achievement standards and use alternate assessments for an additional 2 percent of special education students with "persistent academic disabilities."

Accommodations could include having test questions read aloud to a student or allowing extra time for a test to be completed.

In prior years Clark County was only able to provide accommodations to 360 of its 36,000 special education students, Green said. The additional 2 percent allocation could mean another 720 students would benefit, she said.

Keith Rheault, Nevada's superintendent of public instruction, said Spellings' announcements were good news, albeit on a small scale.

"In theory it's great news that the feds are going to be more flexible," Rheault said. "But in reality it's a very small number of special education kids affected."

One of the major issues Nevada education officials have been raising with the federal agency is that of the required testing procedures for children with limited or non-existent proficiency in English, the state's fastest growing student population, Rheault said.

Nevada has repeatedly petitioned federal education officials to reconsider the requirement that districts count test scores for all students who have been in public schools for at least two years, even if that student has little or no proficiency in English, Rheault said.

"That's an area where we could really benefit from increased flexibility," Rheault said. "We'll have to see whether these changes will allow us to do that."

Under the federal education act, every student at every public school is expected to test at the proficient level in reading and mathematics by the 2013-14 academic year. Schools must show gains both overall and by subgroups of students, including special education, limited English proficiency, ethnicity and socio-economic status.

Gary Waters, a member of Nevada's State Board of Education, said Spellings' announcements were "important and much-need improvements" of the federal law. He said he was also encouraged that federal education officials considered a study by the National Institutes of Health to determine the additional percentage of special education students who should be allowed accommodations. "That's an amazingly enlightened approach, using statistics from another agency," Waters said. "That's a hopeful and encouraging sign in my view, that they didn't make a unilateral decision without outside input, just because they can."

In a telephone conference call for reporters with Spellings, the Sun asked whether Clark County might be able to seek accommodations under the federal law using its spiraling surge in student enrollment as a mitigating factor.

Spellings noted that her department and lawmakers are already taking note of the challenges that come with growth and pointed to Nevada's increased allocations in Title I monies last year. The bump in funding for the state's poorest schools was a result of federal officials using more recent Census figures to calculate aid.

"The resources flow where the kids are," Spellings said. When asked for examples of circumstances that a school district might use to successfully petition for flexibility under the law, Spellings demurred and said that was a question for the each individual state's education chief.

"I'm very anxious to hear the way the states are going to respond to this request for partnership," Spellings said.

The ultimate goals of the federal law, closing the achievement gap between subgroups and having every student performing at grade level by 2014, remain unchanged, Spellings said.

Clark County has made overall gains in closing the achievement gap between white students an their minority classmates but the subgroup of black students continues to lag, Green said. That may be an area where the district could develop a plan of alternative assessments in order to continue meeting the tenets of the federal education act and benefit from the promise of "increased flexibility," Green said.

"Our case would have to be to the state and they would take it to the federal level on our behalf," Green said. "It's sounds like Secretary Spellings is wide open as to what she's willing to consider." Spellings will favor states that don't challenge principal points of the law -- yearly testing of students in reading and math in grades three to eight, and public reporting of scores for all major groups of students. She wants proof that states are raising achievement.

And she's inclined to work with states that do even more than the law requires, including the yearly high school testing that Bush wants in federal law but Congress hasn't endorsed.

Overall, Spellings is out to garner support from state leaders who have grown restless over Bush's education law, yet do it without eroding high expectations for all children.

State leaders contend the law sets unreasonable and rigid standards for many children. Connecticut plans to file a federal suit over the law, Utah is poised to pass a bill giving priority to its own education goals, and other states are clamoring for change.

Spellings has shown she's heard those concerns, said David Driscoll, education commissioner in Massachusetts and president of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

"The chiefs are very pleased," Driscoll said after the speech. "She's not backing off the standards, but she's willing to listen and provide flexibility where it makes sense."

The Utah education commissioner, Patti Harrington, said she was encouraged by Spellings' respect for local school control and support of alternate testing for more disabled students.

Harrington said Utah lawmakers are still likely to pass a bill giving priority to their own school goals unless federal officials approve Utah's new request for more flexibility.

The relationship between the state and federal leaders is important because it affects everything from teaching to testing, influencing the daily education of millions of students.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose state plans to sue on grounds the federal law is vastly underfunded, said Spellings' announcement does not fix that concern.

On Capitol Hill, the top Republican and Democrat on the House education committee said Spellings' approach could help quell controversy about the law. But in a joint statement, Republican John Boehner of Ohio and Democrat George Miller of California cautioned that the law should be enforced "without favoritism."

Another author of the law, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., praised Spellings' intentions but said her agency should set clear rules -- not reward some states and punish others.