II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 622 

To establish the Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Systems 

for Public Schools. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. ALEXANDER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish the Commission on Effective Regulation and 

Assessment Systems for Public Schools. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commission on Effec5 tive Regulation and Assessment Systems for Public 

6 Schools Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMISSION ON EFFECTIVE REGULATION AND AS2 SESSMENT SYSTEMS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Elementary and Secondary 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘TITLE X—COMMISSION ON EF7 FECTIVE REGULATION AND 

8 ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS FOR 

9 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

10 ‘‘SEC. 10001. DEFINITIONS. 

11 ‘‘In this title: 

12 ‘‘(1) CHAIRPERSON.—The term ‘Chairperson’ 

13 means the Chairperson of the Commission. 

14 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘Commission’ 

15 means the Commission on Effective Regulation and 

16 Assessment Systems for Public Schools. 

17 ‘‘(3) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—The term ‘rel18 evant committees’ means the Committee on Health, 

19 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and 

20 the Committee on Education and the Workforce of 

21 the House of Representatives. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 10002. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION ON EFFEC23 TIVE REGULATION AND ASSESSMENT SYS24 TEMS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

25 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

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1 tion and Assessment Systems for Public Schools Act, the 

2 Secretary shall establish a commission to be known as the 

3 ‘Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Sys4 tems for Public Schools’. 

5 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The Commission shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) examine Federal, State, and local regu7 latory requirements on elementary and secondary 

8 education; 

9 ‘‘(2) make recommendations on how to align 

10 and improve such Federal, State, and local require11 ments to improve performance and innovation; 

12 ‘‘(3) examine the quality and purpose of current 

13 Federal, State, and local assessment requirements; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(4) make recommendations to improve and 

16 align assessment systems to provide quality and 

17 meaningful information for parents, teachers, and 

18 students to improve student achievement, teacher 

19 performance, and innovation. 

20 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

21 ‘‘(1) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be 

22 composed of— 

23 ‘‘(A) 4 Governors; 

24 ‘‘(B) 6 State legislators; 

25 ‘‘(C) 2 Chief State school officers; 


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1 ‘‘(D) 2 State officials responsible for ad2 ministering Federal education programs; 

3 ‘‘(E) 4 superintendents; 

4 ‘‘(F) 2 principals; 

5 ‘‘(G) 2 teachers; 

6 ‘‘(H) 2 assessment experts; and 

7 ‘‘(I) 2 teacher and principal effectiveness 

8 experts. 

9 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

10 solicit input and nominations for appointing mem11 bers of the Commission from— 

12 ‘‘(A) Governors; 

13 ‘‘(B) members of Congress; 

14 ‘‘(C) State legislators; 

15 ‘‘(D) superintendents, principals, teachers, 

16 and other members of the education commu17 nity; and 

18 ‘‘(E) parents, students, and other members 

19 of the general public. 

20 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary shall de21 termine the membership of the Commission after 

22 considering recommendations submitted under para23 graph (2). 

24 ‘‘(d) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary shall designate 

25 a Governor as the Chairperson of the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(e) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall hold, at the 

2 call of the Chairperson, at least 1 meeting every 6 months. 

3 All such meetings shall be open to the public. The Com4 mission may hold, at the call of the Chairperson, such 

5 other meetings as the Chairperson sees fit to carry out 

6 this title. 

7 ‘‘(f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the 

8 Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num9 ber of members may hold hearings. 

10 ‘‘(g) INITIAL MEETING.—The Commission shall hold 

11 its first meeting not later than 60 days after the date of 

12 enactment of the Commission on Effective Regulation and 

13 Assessment Systems for Public Schools Act. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 10003. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

15 ‘‘(a) HEARINGS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall hold 

17 such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, 

18 take such testimony, and receive such evidence as 

19 the Commission determines appropriate to carry out 

20 this title. 

21 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION.—In hearings held under 

22 this subsection, the Commission shall consider invit23 ing witnesses from, among other groups— 

24 ‘‘(A) teachers; 

25 ‘‘(B) parents; 


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1 ‘‘(C) principals; 

2 ‘‘(D) superintendents; 

3 ‘‘(E) Federal, State, and local educational 

4 agency personnel; 

5 ‘‘(F) researchers and other experts; and 

6 ‘‘(G) any other individuals determined ap7 propriate by the Commission. 

8 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 

9 The Commission may secure directly from any Federal de10 partment or agency such information as the Commission 

11 considers necessary to carry out this title. Upon request 

12 of the Chairperson, the head of such department or agency 

13 shall furnish such information to the Commission. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 10004. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

15 ‘‘(a) DUTIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall take 

17 such actions as it determines necessary to gain a full 

18 understanding of the issues of effective regulation 

19 and assessment systems for public schools. 

20 ‘‘(2) AREAS OF EMPHASIS.—The Commission 

21 shall focus— 

22 ‘‘(A) in examining the over-regulation of 

23 public schools, on— 

24 ‘‘(i) examining Federal, State and 

25 local regulations governing public schools; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) differentiating between financial, 

2 programmatic, general education, special 

3 education, and civil rights requirements; 

4 ‘‘(iii) identifying which government 

5 entity requires each regulation; 

6 ‘‘(iv) measuring the cost of compli7 ance in terms of funds spent on compliance 

8 and time in hours and personnel; 

9 ‘‘(v) identifying duplicative, redun10 dant, or unnecessary regulations at each 

11 governmental level; and 

12 ‘‘(vi) investigating how Federal, State, 

13 and local interpretations of laws and regu14 lations create additional or unnecessary 

15 burden and are used as rationale for im16 posing requirements that are not actually 

17 mandated by law; and 

18 ‘‘(B) in examining the effective testing of 

19 public schools, on— 

20 ‘‘(i) examining Federal, State, and 

21 local testing and standardized assessment 

22 requirements for public elementary schools, 

23 middle schools, and high schools; 

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1 cluding whether it is intended to measure 

2 student achievement and growth, teacher 

3 and principal effectiveness, or system ac4 countability; 

5 ‘‘(iii) determining the frequency, 

6 length, and scheduling of such tests and 

7 assessments, and measuring, in hours and 

8 days, the student and teacher time spent 

9 on testing; 

10 ‘‘(iv) examining standardized assess11 ments required by Federal, State, or local 

12 requirements, excluding teacher-created 

13 tests and quizzes and formative assess14 ments; 

15 ‘‘(v) reporting on the quality of stand16 ardized assessments; 

17 ‘‘(vi) examining reporting practices of 

18 test results and the degree to which they 

19 are returned in a timely manner with suffi20 cient quality to be useful to parents, teach21 ers and principals, and students to inform 

22 and improve their work, including tar23 geting instruction to student needs, grad24 ing student work, and evaluating teacher 

25 and principal effectiveness; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) analyzing the ability of quality 

2 assessments to measure whether a student 

3 is prepared to graduate from high school 

4 and pursue college or a career without the 

5 need for academic remediation; 

6 ‘‘(viii) examining what factors most 

7 contribute to quality assessments and the 

8 extent to which high-quality assessments 

9 can advance student learning; 

10 ‘‘(ix) determining the technology in11 frastructure required for next generation 

12 assessments; and 

13 ‘‘(x) identifying opportunities to im14 prove assessment practices to better pro15 mote parent, teacher and principal, and 

16 student understanding of progress toward 

17 college and career readiness and public un18 derstanding of school performance and 

19 educational productivity. 

20 ‘‘(3) SAMPLES.—In conducting its work under 

21 this title, the Commission may rely on samples of 

22 States and local school districts for examples of reg23 ulations and testing requirements. 

24 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the Commission shall provide regular reports in a 

3 manner and form of the Commission’s choosing to— 

4 ‘‘(A) the Secretary; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the members of the relevant commit6 tees. 

7 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

8 after the date of the first meeting of the Commis9 sion, and annually thereafter, the Commission shall 

10 issue a report to— 

11 ‘‘(A) the Secretary; and 

12 ‘‘(B) the members of the relevant commit13 tees. 

14 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC REPORT.—The Commission 

15 shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) prepare a report— 

17 ‘‘(i) analyzing findings of the Commis18 sion; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) making recommendations for 

20 Federal, State, and local policy makers; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) broadly disseminate such report to 

23 the general public. 

24 ‘‘(c) TESTIMONY.—The Chairperson shall annually 

25 provide testimony to the relevant committees. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 10005. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

2 ‘‘(a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member 

3 of the Commission shall serve without compensation in ad4 dition to any such compensation received for the member’s 

5 service as an officer or employee of the United States, if 

6 applicable. 

7 ‘‘(b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com8 mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 

9 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ10 ees of agencies under subchapter 1 of chapter 57 of title 

11 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or 

12 regular places of business in the performance of services 

13 for the Commission. 

14 ‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary of 

16 Elementary and Secondary Education shall provide 

17 assistance to the Commission, upon request of the 

18 Commission, without reimbursement. 

19 ‘‘(2) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.— 

20 Any Federal Government employee may be detailed 

21 to the Commission without reimbursement, and such 

22 detail shall be without interruption or loss of civil 

23 service status or privilege.’’. 

24 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

25 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

26 of 1965 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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‘‘TITLE X—COMMISSION ON EFFECTIVE REGULATION AND 

ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

‘‘Sec. 10001. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 10002. Establishment of Commission on Effective Regulation and Assessment Systems for Public Schools. 

‘‘Sec. 10003. Powers of the Commission. 

‘‘Sec. 10004. Duties of the Commission. 

‘‘Sec. 10005. Commission personnel matters.’’. 

Æ 


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