"This is an incredible achievement to break through the barriers that have prevented us from coming together as an institution."
Rep. Joe Courtney
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a wide-ranging bill to revise the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as "No Child Left Behind."
Connecticut’s delegation was unanimous in its support of the bill, called Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, which was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday -- 359 to 64. The federal legislation returns much of the control over K-12 public education to state and local school districts.
The White House Office of the Press Secretary released a statement Wednesday:
Since 2009, America’s schools have raised academic expectations, increased graduation rates to their highest level on record, and sent more students to college than ever. The bill passed by the House today will cement this progress. The “Every Student Succeeds Act” will fix the “No Child Left Behind Act” to reduce over-testing and one-size-fits-all federal mandates. It also guarantees that all students will be held to high academic standards that prepare them for college and careers.
This legislation ensures that, when students fall behind, local educators will take action and invest in what works to help them learn. Finally, the bill makes one of the best investments we can make in our children’s future by providing high-quality preschool to more students.
This bipartisan compromise is an important step forward, and we look forward to the Senate’s swift passage of this bill.
The U.S. Department of Education provided a "fact sheet" detailing the bill's goals to support students' readiness into college, empower local and state officials to ensure school districts' success, and ensure that testing doesn't interfere with learning.
Representative Joe Courtney spoke from the House floor about the bill.
"It has been 13 long years since ESEA was rewritten," Courtney said. "And as we've heard from prior speakers, there are many problems that have been identified with "No Child Left Behind," which we have heard from across the board in terms of parents, educators, administrators, in terms of the need to update and revise this legislation."
Courtney talked about new upgrades to programs and teacher training in the STEM areas: science, technology, engineering, and math. He called it a “great achievement” that lawmakers were able to come together to move the bill forward.
"This is an incredible achievement to break through the barriers that have prevented us from coming together as an institution to really fix what in many respects is the most important issue, which is creating a future for our kids and grandchildren," Courtney said.
The revised bill continues to require annual standardized testing in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, but states would be allowed to determine what to do with the results.
Connecticut Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell and State Board of Education chairman Allan Taylor told The Connecticut Mirror on Wednesday that they don't foresee the state changing its current approach to testing.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the bill by the end of the year.
Leyda Quast contributed to this report.
