At Senate Hearing, Diverse Coalition Voices Concerns Over Lack of Accountability Standards in Federal Education Reform Bill

Joining a
coalition of 29 civil rights, education and
business organizations, Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The
Leadership Conference, told Senators yesterday at a
hearing on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that the groups
cannot support a bill that lacks strong accountability measures.

“Accountability is a core civil
rights principle and one that’s indispensable to advancing our common goals of
closing achievement gaps and maintaining our country’s competitiveness in a
global economy,” said Henderson at a hearing before the Senate Committee
on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). “Federal funding must be attached to
firm, ambitious, and unequivocal demands for higher achievement, better high
school graduation rates, and closing achievement gaps.”

The
coalition of 29 civil rights groups, business associations,
statewide education officials, and education advocates, which
includes the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has signed a
joint statement outlining its concerns:

“As representatives of the millions of
students with disabilities, low-income students, students of color, English-language
learners and migrant students who are studying in our nation’s schools, both
boys and girls, we cannot support the Elementary and Secondary Education
Reauthorization Act of 2011 at this time. The bill’s weak accountability system
excludes the vast majority of children we represent, and is a major barrier to
our organizations’ support.

 While the
groups recognize that the bill does address some “much-needed” reforms, they
state that:

In its current form, however, states would
not have to set any measurable
achievement and progress targets or even graduation rate goals. They would be
required to take action to improve only a small number of low-performing
schools. In schools which aren’t among the states’ very worst performing, huge
numbers of low-achieving students will slip through the cracks.

As
Henderson emphasized during his testimony, relying on states alone to enforce
and improve educational standards and accountability has been a historically
inadequate approach.

“Had the federal government not chosen
to intervene in states’ activities in this area we would not have had the
improvement that we’ve seen, and those who seem to argue that states when left
free of their own devices can achieve the kind of goals that we all seek need
only look at the record that has been established over the past to recognize
that the states themselves are not perfect and that they have in turn improved
their academic involvement because of the federal government, not in spite of
it,” he said.

The
Leadership Conference and its coalition members believe
that access
to a high quality education is a fundamental civil right for all children and support the continued commitment of the federal
government to equal educational opportunity.