The Leadership Conference Calls for Strong Accountability Measures in ESEA Reform

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a letter this week to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions outlining its priorities for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act with respect to accountability standards in Title I of the law. Title I provides federal funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families.

“Fifty-six years after Brown v. Board of Education, too many of our nation’s students still do not have access to equal educational opportunities…Our public education system persistently shortchanged low-income and minority students who need the most – through access to qualified and effective teachers or a curriculum and learning environment that ensures college and career readiness – by systematically providing them with less,” write Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, and Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference, in the letter.

The letter calls on Congress to enact “strong provisions to preserve accountability, enhance transparency by taking into account the gender of students within each subgroup or ancestry of students in major racial or ethnic groups, and ensure that states and LEAs take effective action to improve low-performing schools and to close gaps in such areas as achievement, high school graduation, and discipline rates … and to remove barriers to learning” and identifies 12 elements it believes must be part of the accountability framework.

View the full letter below: 

ESEA Accountability Letter 4 5 2011

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