HJ0041ham001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HJ0041HAM001 LRB094 12003 NHT 46790 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 41

AMENDMENT NO. ___. Amend House Joint Resolution 41 by replacing everything after the heading with the following:

"WHEREAS, The overarching goal of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is to enhance student achievement and academic success and to make schools and school districts accountable for their students' academic achievements; and

WHEREAS, Individual states are responsible for interpreting NCLB mandates in their own laws; and

WHEREAS, NCLB requires individual states to design and implement testing systems, set academic standards, hold schools and school districts accountable for meeting those standards, define what constitutes a "highly qualified" teacher and establish their own plans for ensuring that there is a "highly qualified" teacher in every classroom, and determine the allocation of millions of federal education funds to improve student achievement; and

WHEREAS, The State Board of Education is currently in the process of presenting changes in the Illinois Accountability Workbook to the U.S. Department of Education for approval to provide more flexibility to schools and school districts under NCLB and to ensure reliable and valid information for local decision-making; and

WHEREAS, The State Board of Education is proposing several aspects of change regarding subgroup size to ensure that the State's accountability system is more reliable and valid, which include considering an increased school and school district subgroup size and the use of a confidence interval; and

WHEREAS, The State Board of Education is also proposing to change how districts are identified as not making adequate yearly progress (AYP) so that no district will be determined to not meet AYP unless one or more of its underlying grade spans have not made AYP; and

WHEREAS, The State Board of Education should include other areas for maximum flexibility, such as redefining a full academic year for the purposes of calculating AYP so that students are enrolled in a school district for the longest possible period of time prior to the administration of State assessments, using the same subgroup of students in the determination of AYP, and taking advantage of the recent federal policy designed to help states better assist students with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, The State Board of Education should work with the U.S. Secretary of Education towards her goal of assisting states to ensure they have the flexibility needed to raise student achievement with additional alternatives and flexibility to implement NCLB; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we support the State Board of Education and the intent of its proposed modifications to the Illinois Accountability Workbook; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the U.S. Department of Education to approve these modifications; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the State Board of Education and the U.S. Department of Education.".