I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4464 

To improve the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2004 

Mr. SIMMONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To improve the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 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 ‘‘No Child Left Behind 

5 Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS. 

7 (a) DEFINITION OF ADEQUATE YEARLY

8 PROGRESS.—Section 1111(b)(2) of the Elementary and 

9 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)) 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) in subparagraph (C)(vii)— 
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘such as’’; 

2 (B) by inserting ‘‘such as measures of indi3 vidual or cohort growth over time based on the 

4 academic assessments implemented in accord5 ance with paragraph (3),’’ after ‘‘described in 

6 clause (v),’’; and 

7 (C) by striking ‘‘attendance rates,’’; and 

8 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 

9 (A) by striking clause (ii); 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘the State’’ and all that 

11 follows through ‘‘ensure’’ and inserting ‘‘the 

12 State shall ensure’’; and 

13 (C) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a pe14 riod. 

15 (b) ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT AND LOCAL EDU16 CATIONAL AGENCY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.—Sec17 tion 1116(a)(1)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary 

18 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316(a)(1)(B)) is 

19 amended by striking ‘‘, except that’’ and all that follows 

20 through ‘‘action or restructuring’’. 

21 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INCREASING DATA CAPACITY FOR 

22 PURPOSES OF AYP. 

23 Part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) is amend25 ed by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 1120C. GRANTS FOR INCREASING DATA CAPACITY 

2 FOR PURPOSES OF AYP. 

3 ‘‘(a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may award 

4 grants, on a competitive basis, to State educational agen5 cies to enable the State educational agencies to develop 

6 or increase the capacity of data systems for accountability 

7 purposes and award subgrants to increase the capacity of 

8 local educational agencies to upgrade, create, or manage 

9 information databases for the purpose of measuring ade10 quate yearly progress. 

11 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec12 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to State educational 

13 agencies that have created, or are in the process of cre14 ating, a growth model or proficiency index as part of their 

15 adequate yearly progress determination. 

16 ‘‘(c) STATE USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that re17 ceives a grant under this section shall use— 

18 ‘‘(1) not more than 20 percent of the grant 

19 funds for the purpose of increasing the capacity of, 

20 or creating, State databases to collect information 

21 related to adequate yearly progress; and 

22 ‘‘(2) not less than 80 percent of the grant 

23 funds to award subgrants to local educational agen24 cies within the State to enable the local educational 

25 agencies to carry out the authorized activities de26 scribed in subsection (d). 
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1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Each local edu2 cational agency that receives a subgrant under this section 

3 shall use the subgrant funds to increase the capacity of 

4 the local educational agency to upgrade databases or cre5 ate unique student identifiers for the purpose of meas6 uring adequate yearly progress, by— 

7 ‘‘(1) purchasing database software or hardware; 

8 ‘‘(2) hiring additional staff for the purpose of 

9 managing such data; 

10 ‘‘(3) providing professional development or ad11 ditional training for such staff; and 

12 ‘‘(4) providing professional development or 

13 training for principals and teachers on how to effec14 tively use such data to implement instructional strat15 egies to improve student achievement. 

16 ‘‘(e) STATE APPLICATION.—Each State educational 

17 agency desiring a grant under this section shall submit 

18 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man19 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 

20 require. 

21 ‘‘(f) LEA APPLICATION.—Each local educational 

22 agency desiring a subgrant under this section shall submit 

23 an application to the State educational agency at such 

24 time, in such manner, and containing such information as 

25 the State educational agency may require. Each such ap-
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1 plication shall include, at a minimum, a demonstration of 

2 the local educational agency’s ability to put such a data3 base in place. 

4 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

6 $80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 

7 2007.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. TARGETING TRANSFER OPTIONS AND SUPPLE9 MENTAL SERVICES. 

10 (a) TARGETING TRANSFER OPTIONS AND SUPPLE11 MENTAL SERVICES.—Section 1116 of the Elementary and 

12 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316) is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in paragraphs (1)(E)(i), (5)(A), (7)(C)(i), 

15 and (8)(A)(i) of subsection (b), by striking the term 

16 ‘‘all students enrolled in the school’’ each place such 

17 term appears and inserting ‘‘all students enrolled in 

18 the school, who are members of a group described in 

19 section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to make adequate 

20 yearly progress as defined in the State’s plan under 

21 section 1111(b)(2),’’; 

22 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by adding at the end 

23 the following: 

24 ‘‘(G) MAINTENANCE OF LEAST RESTRIC25 TIVE ENVIRONMENT.—A student who is eligible 
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1 to receive services under the Individuals with 

2 Disabilities Education Act and who uses the op3 tion to transfer under subparagraph (E), para4 graph (5)(A), (7)(C)(i), or (8)(A)(i), or sub5 section (c)(10)(C)(vii), shall be placed and 

6 served in the least restrictive environment ap7 propriate, in accordance with the Individuals 

8 with Disabilities Education Act.’’; 

9 (3) in clause (vii) of subsection (c)(10)(C), by 

10 inserting ‘‘, who are members of a group described 

11 in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to make ade12 quate yearly progress as defined in the State’s plan 

13 under section 1111(b)(2),’’ after ‘‘Authorizing stu14 dents’’; and 

15 (4) in subparagraph (A) of subsection (e)(12), 

16 by inserting ‘‘, who is a member of a group de17 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to 

18 make adequate yearly progress as defined in the 

19 State’s plan under section 1111(b)(2)’’ after ‘‘under 

20 section 1113(c)(1)’’. 

21 (b) STUDENT ALREADY TRANSFERRED.—A student 

22 who transfers to another public school pursuant to section 

23 1116(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

24 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316(b)) before the effective date of 

25 this section and the amendments made by this section, 
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1 may continue enrollment in such public school after the 

2 effective date of this section and the amendments made 

3 by this section. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend5 ments made by this section shall be effective for each fiscal 

6 year for which the amount appropriated to carry out title 

7 I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

8 for the fiscal year, is less than the amount authorized to 

9 be appropriated to carry out such title for the fiscal year. 

10 SEC. 5. DEFINITION OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS. 

11 Section 9101(23)(B)(ii) of the Elementary and Sec12 ondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(23)(B)(ii)) is amend13 ed— 

14 (1) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 

15 semicolon; 

16 (2) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

17 the semicolon; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(III) in the case of a middle 

20 school teacher, passing a State ap21 proved middle school generalist exam 

22 when the teacher receives the teach23 er’s license to teach middle school in 

24 the State; 
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1 ‘‘(IV) obtaining a State social 

2 studies certificate that qualifies the 

3 teacher to teach history, geography, 

4 economics, and civics in middle or sec5 ondary schools, respectively, in the 

6 State; or 

7 ‘‘(V) obtaining a State science 

8 certificate that qualifies the teacher to 

9 teach earth science, biology, chem10 istry, and physics in middle or sec11 ondary schools, respectively, in the 

12 State; and’’. 

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