House Leaders Debate Education Bill

Mary, thank you for your enthusiasm and your work to improve educational opportunities for all of our nation's students. Your question is proof positive that NCLB has changed the national dialogue by bringing attention to students that in the past may have been allowed to slip between the cracks.

Since passage of NCLB, the House Education and Labor Committee has held a number of hearings and site visits to hear directly from parents, educators, and experts about what's working and what can be made better. Among the most common difficulties faced by states is meeting the requirement that all students, including those students who are English Language Learners, are on a path to be proficient in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. After hearing from educators like you, we're examining ways to build on the flexibility already in the law. For example, we are considering whether to require the development and use of native language assessments to measure English proficiency for those states, including Colorado, with a significant percentage of their student population speaking a particular language other than English. I am confident we can provide greater flexibility without lowering the bar for the majority of ELL students who can and should learn English so they can attain the knowledge and skills to become productive citizens of this country.

The critical issue is to assess these children in the most valid and reliable way, using assessments that best measure what English language learners know and can do. We are making the development of such valid and reliable assessments a top priority in this reauthorization so that English language learners will not have to take tests that they do not understand and so we can get the best picture of their true achievement levels.