II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 724 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6, 2005 

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. SALAZAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

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— 
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1 (1) in subparagraph (C)(vii)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘such as’’; 

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘such as measures of indi4 vidual or cohort growth over time based on the 

5 academic assessments implemented in accord6 ance with paragraph (3),’’ after ‘‘described in 

7 clause (v),’’; and 

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

9 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 

10 (A) by striking clause (ii); 

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

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

13 State shall ensure’’; and 

14 (C) by striking ‘‘; and’’ and inserting a pe15 riod. 

16 (b) ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT AND LOCAL EDU17 CATIONAL AGENCY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.—Sec18 tion 1116(a)(1)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary 

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

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

21 through ‘‘action or restructuring’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INCREASING DATA CAPACITY FOR 

2 PURPOSES OF AYP. 

3 Subpart 1 of part A of title I of the Elementary and 

4 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et 

5 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1120C. GRANTS FOR INCREASING DATA CAPACITY 

7 FOR PURPOSES OF AYP. 

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

9 grants, on a competitive basis, to State educational agen10 cies to enable the State educational agencies— 

11 ‘‘(1) to develop or increase the capacity of data 

12 systems for accountability purposes; and 

13 ‘‘(2) to award subgrants to increase the capac14 ity of local educational agencies to upgrade, create, 

15 or manage information databases for the purpose of 

16 measuring adequate yearly progress. 

17 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec18 tion the Secretary shall give priority to State educational 

19 agencies that have created, or are in the process of cre20 ating, a growth model or proficiency index as part of their 

21 adequate yearly progress determination. 

22 ‘‘(c) STATE USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that re23 ceives a grant under this section shall use— 

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

25 funds for the purpose of increasing the capacity of, 
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1 or creating, State databases to collect information 

2 related to adequate yearly progress; and 

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

4 funds to award subgrants to local educational agen5 cies within the State to enable the local educational 

6 agencies to carry out the authorized activities de7 scribed in subsection (d). 

8 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Each local edu9 cational agency that receives a subgrant under this section 

10 shall use the subgrant funds to increase the capacity of 

11 the local educational agency to upgrade databases or cre12 ate unique student identifiers for the purpose of meas13 uring adequate yearly progress, by— 

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

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

16 managing such data; 

17 ‘‘(3) providing professional development or ad18 ditional training for such staff; and 

19 ‘‘(4) providing professional development or 

20 training for principals and teachers on how to effec21 tively use such data to implement instructional strat22 egies to improve student achievement. 

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

24 agency desiring a grant under this section shall submit 

25 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man-
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1 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 

2 require. 

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

4 agency desiring a subgrant under this section shall submit 

5 an application to the State educational agency at such 

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

7 the State educational agency may require. Each such ap8 plication shall include, at a minimum, a demonstration of 

9 the local educational agency’s ability to put such a data10 base in place. 

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

12 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 

13 $80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006, 2007, and 

14 2008.’’ 

15 SEC. 4. TARGETING TRANSFER OPTIONS AND SUPPLE16 MENTAL SERVICES. 

17 (a) TARGETING TRANSFER OPTIONS AND SUPPLE18 MENTAL SERVICES.—Section 1116 of the Elementary and 

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

20 amended— 

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

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

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

24 term appears and inserting ‘‘all students enrolled in 

25 the school, who are members of a group described in 
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1 section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to make adequate 

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

3 section 1111(b)(2),’’; 

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

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘(G) MAINTENANCE OF LEAST RESTRIC7 TIVE ENVIRONMENT.—A student who is eligible 

8 to receive services under the Individuals with 

9 Disabilities Education Act and who uses the op10 tion to transfer under subparagraph (E), para11 graph (5)(A), (7)(C)(i), or (8)(A)(i), or sub12 section (c)(10)(C)(vii), shall be placed and 

13 served in the least restrictive environment ap14 propriate, in accordance with the Individuals 

15 with Disabilities Education Act.’’; 

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

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

18 in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to make ade19 quate yearly progress as defined in the State’s plan 

20 under section 1111(b)(2),’’ after ‘‘Authorizing stu21 dents’’; and 

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

23 by inserting ‘‘, who is a member of a group de24 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that fails to 

25 make adequate yearly progress as defined in the 
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1 State’s plan under section 1111(b)(2)’’ after ‘‘under 

2 section 1113(c)(1)’’. 

3 (b) STUDENT ALREADY TRANSFERRED.—A student 

4 who transfers to another public school pursuant to section 

5 1116(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

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

7 this section and the amendments made by this section, 

8 may continue enrollment in such public school after the 

9 effective date of this section and the amendments made 

10 by this section. 

11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend12 ments made by this section shall be effective for each fiscal 

13 year for which the amount appropriated to carry out title 

14 I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

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

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

17 SEC. 5. DEFINITION OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS. 

18 Section 9101(23)(B)(ii) of the Elementary and Sec19 ondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(23)(B)(ii)) is amend20 ed— 

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

22 semicolon; 

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

24 the semicolon; and 

25 (3) by adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(III) in the case of a middle 

2 school teacher, passing a State ap3 proved middle school generalist exam 

4 when the teacher receives the teach5 er’s license to teach middle school in 

6 the State; 

7 ‘‘(IV) obtaining a State social 

8 studies certificate that qualifies the 

9 teacher to teach history, geography, 

10 economics, and civics in middle or sec11 ondary schools, respectively, in the 

12 State; or 

13 ‘‘(V) obtaining a State science 

14 certificate that qualifies the teacher to 

15 teach earth science, biology, chem16 istry, and physics in middle or sec17 ondary schools, respectively, in the 

18 State; and’’. 

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