04.08.11
“My conclusion is that the federal role in our schools should go from a UNIVAC computer to an iPad -- much thinner and much more efficient than in the past,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the committee. “A different government role rightly maintains accountability but allows parents, schools and their communities make the decisions on how to improve their schools. To really provide state, districts and schools flexibility, we have to reauthorize the bill in a comprehensive way – our children can’t afford anything less.”
Miller’s full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This morning’s hearing is very exciting for me.
It signals to me that the majority on this committee is ready to move forward in a meaningful way with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
This is great news for our nation’s children, for our communities and for our future.
We’ve now had a handful of hearings in this session of Congress looking at the burden on schools.
As I’ve said before, we are right to look closely at the role of the federal government in education.
We are right to identify burdens on States and school districts, and we are right to incentivize high performance.
In my opinion, the takeaway from these hearings has been that there is a growing consensus in this committee about what a great bill should look like to help strengthen our schools.
The role of the federal government should be setting high standards for all students and establishing a strong system for accountability tied to those standards.
We also need to encourage more data and more data-based decision making by schools.
When we have this data, then the federal government can step back and give more flexibility to states and school districts.
Additional flexibility will lead to greater innovation as long as the end goal is always about improving student outcomes.
I believe high standards, strong accountability, data driven decision making and local flexibility to improve student outcomes is our recipe for success in this reauthorization.
Now we need to stop talking and ACT. Our students can’t afford for us to wait any longer. Too many students in too many schools are failing.
More than 7,000 students become dropouts every school day in this country. This adds up to over one million students each year who will not graduate from high school with their peers.
31 percent of the nation’s high school students do not graduate from high school on time with a regular diploma.
If you want to talk about job growth and economic recovery, reauthorize ESEA, graduate more students college and career ready, and increase job earnings, investments, sales, and tax revenue. The list could go on and on.
These hearings have made it very clear that what our students need to succeed isn’t a mystery.
Some of these elements were in place in No Child Left Behind.
For all its flaws, the current law did help us see, for the first time, what was happening in our schools.
Now that we know what is happening, we have to give schools the supports to help spur the real change that our students need and to help move our schools forward.
We can’t look back. Instead, we have to build on what we got right and improve on what we didn’t.
There is no room for partisan politics when it comes to education. The status quo is failing our students and putting our future, our economic stability and our global competitiveness at risk.
We have to take a stand as a nation that it is no longer acceptable for some students at some schools to make gains while most students lag behind.
If we don’t hold our schools accountable for all the children in their classrooms, we fail our country.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the necessary changes we need to help support in our schools to put all students on a pathway to success.
Witnesses and Lawmakers Agree – It is Time to Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Witnesses called on Congress today to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a changed federal role, with more emphasis on communities and parents specifically with a modern accountability system that better measures student and school performance, including a high quality assessment system, better data usage, and more local decision-making on how to address their students needs. Witnesses also called for the rewrite to happen very soon.“My conclusion is that the federal role in our schools should go from a UNIVAC computer to an iPad -- much thinner and much more efficient than in the past,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the committee. “A different government role rightly maintains accountability but allows parents, schools and their communities make the decisions on how to improve their schools. To really provide state, districts and schools flexibility, we have to reauthorize the bill in a comprehensive way – our children can’t afford anything less.”
Miller’s full remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This morning’s hearing is very exciting for me.
It signals to me that the majority on this committee is ready to move forward in a meaningful way with the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
This is great news for our nation’s children, for our communities and for our future.
We’ve now had a handful of hearings in this session of Congress looking at the burden on schools.
As I’ve said before, we are right to look closely at the role of the federal government in education.
We are right to identify burdens on States and school districts, and we are right to incentivize high performance.
In my opinion, the takeaway from these hearings has been that there is a growing consensus in this committee about what a great bill should look like to help strengthen our schools.
The role of the federal government should be setting high standards for all students and establishing a strong system for accountability tied to those standards.
We also need to encourage more data and more data-based decision making by schools.
When we have this data, then the federal government can step back and give more flexibility to states and school districts.
Additional flexibility will lead to greater innovation as long as the end goal is always about improving student outcomes.
I believe high standards, strong accountability, data driven decision making and local flexibility to improve student outcomes is our recipe for success in this reauthorization.
Now we need to stop talking and ACT. Our students can’t afford for us to wait any longer. Too many students in too many schools are failing.
More than 7,000 students become dropouts every school day in this country. This adds up to over one million students each year who will not graduate from high school with their peers.
31 percent of the nation’s high school students do not graduate from high school on time with a regular diploma.
If you want to talk about job growth and economic recovery, reauthorize ESEA, graduate more students college and career ready, and increase job earnings, investments, sales, and tax revenue. The list could go on and on.
These hearings have made it very clear that what our students need to succeed isn’t a mystery.
Some of these elements were in place in No Child Left Behind.
For all its flaws, the current law did help us see, for the first time, what was happening in our schools.
Now that we know what is happening, we have to give schools the supports to help spur the real change that our students need and to help move our schools forward.
We can’t look back. Instead, we have to build on what we got right and improve on what we didn’t.
There is no room for partisan politics when it comes to education. The status quo is failing our students and putting our future, our economic stability and our global competitiveness at risk.
We have to take a stand as a nation that it is no longer acceptable for some students at some schools to make gains while most students lag behind.
If we don’t hold our schools accountable for all the children in their classrooms, we fail our country.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the necessary changes we need to help support in our schools to put all students on a pathway to success.
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