II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1676

To improve accountability for schools and local educational agencies under

part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

1965, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 30, 1999

Mr. BINGAMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To improve accountability for schools and local educational

agencies under part A of title I of the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘School Improvement

5 Accountability Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCOUNTABILITY.

2 (a) STATE PLANS.—Section 1111(b) of the Elemen3 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

4 6311(b)) is amended—

5 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ‘‘AND

6 ASSESSMENTS’’ and inserting ‘‘, ASSESSMENTS, AND

7 ACCOUNTABILITY’’;

8 (2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as fol9 lows:

10 ‘‘(2) YEARLY PROGRESS.

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each State plan shall

12 specify what constitutes adequate yearly

13 progress in student achievement and other out14 comes the State will require, under the State’s

15 accountability system described in paragraph

16 (3), for the State and for each school and each

17 local educational agency receiving funds under

18 this part. The yearly progress specified in the

19 State plan—

20 ‘‘(i) shall be based primarily on the

21 standards described in paragraph (1) and

22 the assessments described in paragraph

23 (3), and shall include specific numerical

24 yearly progress requirements in each sub25 ject and grade included in the State as26 sessments;
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1 ‘‘(ii) shall include separate improve2 ment requirements for economically dis3 advantaged students, disabled students,

4 and limited English proficient students by

5 school and by subject area, to ensure that

6 all such students meet the State’s pro7 ficient or advanced levels of performance

8 on all assessments required under this sec9 tion within 10 years of the date of enact10 ment of the Elementary and Secondary

11 Education Amendments of 1999; and

12 ‘‘(iii) at the State’s discretion, may

13 also include other academic outcome meas14 ures such as promotion, completion of col15 lege preparatory courses, and secondary

16 school completion, if the inclusion of the

17 discretionary outcome measures does not

18 reduce the number of schools or local edu19 cational agencies that would be subject to

20 improvement or corrective action if the

21 measures were not considered.

22 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT.—Each State

23 plan shall require yearly progress so that—

24 ‘‘(i) in the case of a State, not less

25 than 90 percent of the local educational
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1 agencies within the State meet the State’s

2 criteria for adequate yearly progress; and

3 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a local educational

4 agency, not less than 90 percent of the

5 schools served by the local educational

6 agency meet the State’s criteria for ade7 quate yearly progress.

8 ‘‘(C) LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENT.—Each

9 State plan shall require yearly progress that is

10 continuous and substantial to result in all stu11 dents meeting the State’s proficient or ad12 vanced levels of performance within 10 years of

13 the date of enactment of the Elementary and

14 Secondary Education Amendments of 1999.’’;

15 (3) in paragraph (3)—

16 (A) in subparagraph (A)—

17 (i) by striking ‘‘developed or adopted’’

18 and inserting ‘‘in place’’; and

19 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, not later than the

20 school year 2000–2001,’’ after ‘‘will be

21 used’’;

22 (B) in subparagraph (F)—

23 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’

24 after the semicolon;
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1 (ii) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘and’’

2 after the semicolon; and

3 (iii) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing:

5 ‘‘(iv) the use of assessments written in

6 Spanish for the assessment of Spanish7 speaking students with limited English

8 proficiency, if Spanish-language assess9 ments are more likely than English lan10 guage assessments to yield accurate and

11 reliable information regarding what those

12 students know and can do in content areas

13 other than English;’’

14 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (G),

15 (H), and (I), as subparagraphs (H), (I), and

16 (J); and

17 (D) by inserting after subclause (F) the

18 following:

19 ‘‘(G) require the participation of—

20 ‘‘(i) not less than 90 percent of the

21 economically disadvantaged students in the

22 grade level in which the assessment is

23 given;
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1 ‘‘(ii) not less than 90 percent of the

2 migrant students in the grade level in

3 which the assessment is given; and

4 ‘‘(iii) not less than 90 percent of the

5 students with disabilities in the grade level

6 in which the assessment is given.’’;

7 (4) by striking paragraph (7);

8 (5) by redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), (6)

9 and (8) as paragraphs (8), (9), (10) and (11), re10 spectively;

11 (6) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol12 lowing:

13 ‘‘(4) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Each State plan shall

14 demonstrate that the State has developed and is im15 plementing a statewide accountability system that is

16 or will be effective in substantially increasing the

17 numbers and percentages of all students, including

18 economically disadvantaged students, disabled stu19 dents, and students with limited proficiency in

20 English, who meet the State’s proficient and ad21 vanced levels of performance within 10 years of the

22 date of enactment of the Elementary and Secondary

23 Education Amendments of 1999. Each State ac24 countability system shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) be based on the standards and as2 sessments developed or adopted under para3 graphs (1) and (3), respectively, and take into

4 account the performance of all students eligible

5 for assistance under this part;

6 ‘‘(B) be the same accountability system the

7 State uses for all schools or all local educational

8 agencies in the State, if the State has an ac9 countability system for all schools or all local

10 educational agencies in the State;

11 ‘‘(C) require substantial and continuous

12 yearly progress in the achievement of all stu13 dents, including economically disadvantaged

14 students, disabled students, and students with

15 limited English proficiency, as described in

16 paragraph (2), in all schools and local edu17 cational agencies receiving funds under this

18 part;

19 ‘‘(D) provide for the identification of dis20 tinguished schools and local educational agen21 cies receiving funds under this part, and pro22 vide for the dissemination of practices and

23 strategies that enabled the schools and local

24 educational agencies to make outstanding

25 progress;
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1 ‘‘(E) provide for the identification of

2 schools and local educational agencies in need

3 of improvement, as required by section 1116,

4 and provide for the provision of technical assist5 ance, professional development, and other ca6 pacity-building as needed, including those meas7 ures specified in sections 1116(c)(5) and 1117,

8 to ensure that schools and local educational

9 agencies so identified have the resources, skills,

10 and knowledge needed to carry out their obliga11 tions under sections 1114 and 1115 and to

12 meet the requirements for adequate yearly

13 progress described in paragraph (2);

14 ‘‘(F) specify the corrective action or ac15 tions the State will take, as required by section

16 1116(d)(6), with respect to each school and

17 local educational agency that is identified as in

18 need of improvement for 2 or more years; and

19 ‘‘(G) provide for prompt reporting to par20 ents of students enrolled in schools that are

21 identified for school improvement or are subject

22 to corrective action.

23 ‘‘(5) PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENT.—Each

24 State plan shall contain assurances that—
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1 ‘‘(A) in developing the State plan for an2 nual yearly progress, the State diligently sought

3 public comment from a range of institutions

4 and individuals in the State with an interest in

5 improved student achievement; and

6 ‘‘(B) the State will continue to make a

7 substantial effort to ensure that information re8 garding this part is widely known and under9 stood by citizens, parents, teachers, and school

10 administrators throughout the State, including,

11 at a minimum, publication of the information

12 and explanatory text in each major newspaper

13 in the State and on the State educational agen14 cy’s web site.

15 ‘‘(6) ANNUAL REVIEW.—The Secretary

16 shall review the information submitted by each

17 State under paragraph (2) relating to the ade18 quate yearly progress of States, schools, and

19 local educational agencies for purposes of deter20 mining State and local compliance with section

21 1116.

22 ‘‘(7) PENALTIES.—

23 ‘‘(A) INELIGIBILITY FOR RESERVATIONS.—

24 If a State fails to meet the deadlines described

25 in paragraphs (1)(C) and (6) for demonstrating
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1 that the State has in place high-quality State

2 content and student performance standards,

3 aligned assessments, and a system for meas4 uring and monitoring adequate yearly progress

5 for a fiscal year, then the State shall be ineli6 gible to reserve any funds under section

7 1003(a)(1) for the succeeding fiscal year that

8 exceed the amount so reserved for such pur9 poses by the State for the fiscal year preceding

10 the fiscal year for which the determination is

11 made.

12 ‘‘(B) WITHHOLDING ADMINISTRATIVE

13 FUNDS.—

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as de15 scribed in clause (ii), if a State fails to

16 meet the deadlines described in paragraphs

17 (1)(C) and (6) for a fiscal year, then the

18 Secretary may withhold funds made avail19 able under this part for administrative ex20 penses for the succeeding fiscal year in

21 such amount as the Secretary determines

22 appropriate.

23 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—For each suc24 ceeding fiscal year for which a State fails

25 to meet the deadlines described in para-
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1 graphs (1) and (6) after the fiscal year de2 scribed in clause (i), the Secretary shall

withhold not less than 1 3 ⁄5 of the funds

4 made available under this part for adminis5 trative expenses for the fiscal year.’’; and

6 (7) by amending paragraph (10) (as redesig7 nated by paragraph (5)) to read as follows:

8 ‘‘(10) ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENT.—A State

9 that has not developed challenging State assess10 ments that are aligned to challenging State content

11 standards, in at least mathematics and reading or

12 language arts by school year 2000–2001, may apply

13 to the Secretary for a one-time, 1-year extension to

14 complete development and alignment of the assess15 ments.’’.

16 (b) ASSESSMENT AND IMPROVEMENT.—Section 1116

17 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

18 (20 U.S.C. 6317) is amended—

19 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol20 lows:

21 ‘‘(a) STATE AND LOCAL REVIEW.—

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State and local edu23 cational agency receiving funds under this part shall

24 use the State assessments and other academic meas25 ures or indicators, if any, described in the State plan
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1 to review annually the progress of each school served

2 under this part to determine whether the school is

3 meeting or making the adequate yearly progress

4 specified under section 1111(b)(2) toward enabling

5 all students to meet the State’s student performance

6 standards described in the State plan.

7 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION; RE8 SULTS.—Each local educational agency receiving

9 funding under this part shall—

10 ‘‘(A) publicize and disseminate to teachers

11 and other staff, parents, students, and the com12 munity, the results of the annual review under

13 paragraph (1) of all schools served under this

14 part in individual school performance profiles

15 that include statistically sound results

16 disaggregated in the same manner as results

17 are disaggregated under section 1111(b)(3)(I);

18 and

19 ‘‘(B) provide the results of the local annual

20 review to schools so that the schools can contin21 ually refine the program of instruction to help

22 all children served under this part in those

23 schools meet the State’s student performance

24 standards.
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1 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE.—A local educational agen2 cy may use any additional local measures or indica3 tors described in the State plan to review annually

4 the yearly progress of each school served under this

5 part if the use of such additional measures does not

6 result in fewer schools being identified as needing

7 improvement than would otherwise be identified

8 without using such additional measures.’’;

9 (2) in subsection (c)—

10 (A) in paragraph (2)—

11 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs

12 (B) and (C) as subparagraphs (C) and

13 (D), respectively;

14 (ii) in subparagraph (A)—

15 (I) by redesignating clause (ii) as

16 clause (iii); and

17 (II) by striking clause (i) and in18 serting the following:

19 ‘‘(i) in understandable language and

20 form, promptly notify the parents of each

21 student enrolled in the school that the

22 school was designated by the State or local

23 educational agency as needing improve24 ment and provide with the notification—
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1 ‘‘(I) the reasons for such des2 ignation; and

3 ‘‘(II) information about opportu4 nities for parents to participate in the

5 school improvement process;

6 ‘‘(ii) with parents, the local edu7 cational agency, and the school support

8 team, develop or revise a school improve9 ment plan that meets the requirements of

10 subparagraph (B) and describe in the plan

11 the specific improvements that the school

12 will undertake that have the greatest likeli13 hood of improving the performance of par14 ticipating children in meeting the State’s

15 student performance standards; and’’; and

16 (iii) by inserting before subparagraph

17 (C) (as redesignated by clause (i)) the fol18 lowing:

19 ‘‘(B) Any plan prepared pursuant to sub20 paragraph (A) shall—

21 ‘‘(i) describe the achievement prob22 lems to be solved;

23 ‘‘(ii) identify strategies or models to

24 be put into place to address the achieve25 ment problems;
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1 ‘‘(iii) explain how such a strategy or

2 model works to produce gains in student

3 achievement;

4 ‘‘(iv) summarize evaluation-based evi5 dence of improvements in student achieve6 ment after implementation of such strate7 gies or models in other schools; and

8 ‘‘(v) describe how the local edu9 cational agency will hold the school ac10 countable for, and assist the school in,

11 meeting the school’s obligations to provide

12 enriched and accelerated curricula, effec13 tive instructional methods, highly qualified

14 professional development, and timely and

15 effective individual assistance, in partner16 ship with parents.’’; and

17 (B) by amending paragraph (5) to read as

18 follows:

19 ‘‘(5) CORRECTIVE ACTION.—(A) A local edu20 cational agency shall take corrective action during

21 the third academic year after the academic year in

22 which a school is identified under paragraph (1) if

23 the school fails to make adequate yearly progress

24 under section 1111(b)(2).
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1 ‘‘(B) The corrective action described in sub2 paragraph (A) may include—

3 ‘‘(i) deferring, reducing, or withholding

4 funds;

5 ‘‘(ii) revoking authority for a school to op6 erate a schoolwide program;

7 ‘‘(iii) decreasing decisionmaking authority

8 at the school level;

9 ‘‘(iv) restructuring the school, such as

10 by—

11 ‘‘(I) creating schools within schools or

12 other small learning environments; or

13 ‘‘(II) making alternative governance

14 arrangements (such as the creation of a

15 public charter school);

16 ‘‘(v) reconstituting the school staff;

17 ‘‘(vi) eliminating the use of

18 noncredentialed staff;

19 ‘‘(vii) authorizing students to transfer, in20 cluding providing transportation costs, to high21 er performing public schools that are not identi22 fied for school improvement and are served by

23 the local educational agency; and

24 ‘‘(viii) closing the school.
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1 ‘‘(C) A local educational agency shall take cor2 rective action with respect to a school identified for

3 corrective action under subparagraph (A). The cor4 rective action shall—

5 ‘‘(i) change the school’s administration or

6 governance by the means specified in subpara7 graph (B) (iii), (v), or (vi); and

8 ‘‘(ii) provide all students enrolled in the

9 school with the option to transfer pursuant to

10 the requirements of subparagraph (B)(vii).

11 ‘‘(D) A school that is no longer operating a

12 schoolwide program due to a corrective action may

13 not resume operation of the schoolwide program

14 until the local educational agency determines that

15 the school has adequately reformed its schoolwide

16 program plan to enable the school to make adequate

17 progress toward meeting the State’s challenging stu18 dent performance standards.’’; and

19 (3) in subsection (d)—

20 (A) in paragraph (4)—

21 (i) by redesignating subparagraph (B)

22 as subparagraph (C); and

23 (ii) by striking subparagraph (A) and

24 inserting the following:
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1 ‘‘(A) Each local educational agency identi2 fied under paragraph (3) shall, in consultation

3 with schools, parents, and educational experts,

4 revise its local educational agency plan under

5 section 1112 in ways that meet the require6 ments of subparagraph (B) and describe in the

7 revised plan the specific improvements that the

8 local educational agency will undertake that

9 have the greatest likelihood of improving the

10 performance of participating children in meet11 ing the State’s student performance standards.

12 ‘‘(B) Any revised plan prepared pursuant

13 to subparagraph (A) shall—

14 ‘‘(i) describe the achievement prob15 lems to be solved;

16 ‘‘(ii) identify strategies or models to

17 be put into place to address the achieve18 ment problems;

19 ‘‘(iii) explain how such a strategy or

20 model works to produce gains in student

21 achievement;

22 ‘‘(iv) summarize evaluation-based evi23 dence of improvements in student achieve24 ment after implementation of such strate25 gies or models in other schools; and
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1 ‘‘(v) describe how the local edu2 cational agency will hold the schools ac3 countable for, and assist schools in, meet4 ing the schools’ obligations to provide en5 riched and accelerated curricula, effective

6 instructional methods, highly qualified pro7 fessional development, and timely and ef8 fective individual assistance, in partnership

9 with parents.’’; and

10 (B) in paragraph (6)(B)—

11 (i) in clause (i)—

12 (I) by amending subclause (I) to

13 read as follows:

14 ‘‘(I) deferring, reducing or with15 holding funds;’’;

16 (II) by amending subclause (VI)

17 to read as follows:

18 ‘‘(VI) authorizing students to

19 transfer, including providing transpor20 tation costs, to higher performing

21 public schools that are not identified

22 for school improvement;’’;

23 (III) in subclause (VII), by strik24 ing the period and inserting ’’; and’’;

25 and
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1 (IV) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing:

3 ‘‘(VIII) eliminating the use of

4 noncredentialed staff.’’;

5 (ii) by amending clause (ii) to read as

6 follows:

7 ‘‘(ii) The State educational agency

8 shall take action with respect to a local

9 educational agency identified for correction

10 action under subparagraph (A). The cor11 rective action shall—

12 ‘‘(I) change the governance of the

13 local educational agency by the means

14 specified in clause (i) (II), (III), (IV)

15 or (V); and

16 ‘‘(II) provide all students enrolled

17 in the schools served by the local edu18 cational agency with the ability to

19 transfer pursuant to the requirements

20 of clause (i)(VI).’’; and

21 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C).

22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Elementary

23 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301

24 et seq.) is amended—
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1 (1) in section 1111(b)(1)(c) (20 U.S.C.

2 6311(b)(1)(c)), by striking ‘‘paragraph (6)’’ and in3 serting ‘‘paragraph (10)’’.

4 (2) in section 1116 (20 U.S.C. 6317)—

5 (A) in subsection (c)(1)—

6 (i) in subparagraph (B)—

7 (I) in subparagraph (A), by in8 serting ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon;

9 (II) in the matter preceding

10 clause (i), by striking ‘‘as defined in

11 the State’s plan under section

12 1111(b)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘as

13 specified in the State’s plan under

14 section 1111(b)(2)’’; and

15 (III) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘;

16 or’’ and inserting a period; and

17 (ii) by striking subparagraph (C); and

18 (B) in subsection (d)—

19 (i) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking

20 ‘‘as defined in section 1111(b)(2)(A)(ii)’’

21 and inserting ‘‘as specified in section

22 1111(b)(2)’’;

23 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘def24 inition of adequate progress as defined in

25 section 1111(b)(2)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting
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1 ‘‘determination of adequate progress as

2 specified in section 1111(b)(2)’’; and

3 (iii) in paragraph (3)—

4 (I) by striking ‘‘agency that—’’

5 and all that follows through ‘‘two con6 secutive’’ and inserting ‘‘agency that

7 for two consecutive’’;

8 (II) by striking ‘‘; or’’ and insert9 ing a period; and

10 (III) by striking clause (ii).

11 (3) in section 1117(c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘defi12 nition of adequate progress as defined in section

13 1111(b)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘determination of

14 adequate progress specified in section 1111(b)(2)’’;

15 and

16 (4) in section 1118(c)(4)(B), by striking

17 ‘‘1116(a)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘1116(a)(2)(A)’’.

18 (d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall promulgate

19 regulations, not later than 6 months after the date of en20 actment of the Elementary and Secondary Education

21 Amendments of 1999, implementing the amendments

22 made by this section.

23 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

24 this Act shall take effect for the school year 2000–2001.

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