Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on the Student Testing Flexibility Act From the Senate Floor April 30, 2003 Mr. President, as millions of public school students and teachers around the country prepare to complete their first school year under the No Child Left Behind Act, NCLB, I am introducing a bill that would help to return a measure of local control that was taken from school districts and States by its enactment last year. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senators JEFFORDS, DAYTON, and LEAHY. I have heard a lot of concern from my constituents about various aspects of the President's education bill. Following the enactment of the bill last year, the drumbeat of concern has continued to reverberate throughout my State, and has gotten even louder, as students, teachers, parents, administrators, school counselors and social workers, and others are learning first-hand about the effect of the NCLB. I strongly support maintaining local control over decisions affecting our children's day-to-day classroom experiences. I also believe that the Federal Government has an important role to play in supporting our State educational agencies and local school districts as they carry out their most important responsibility--the education of our children. I voted against the President's education bill in large part because of the new annual testing mandate for students in grades 3-8. While I agree that there should be a strong accountability system in place to ensure that public school students are making progress, I strongly oppose over-testing students in our public schools. I agree that some tests are needed to ensure that our children are keeping pace, but taking time to test students has to take a back seat to taking the time to teach students in the first place. I have heard a lot about these new annual tests from the people of Wisconsin, and their response has been almost universally negative. My constituents are concerned about this additional layer of testing for many reasons, including the cost of developing and implementing these tests, the loss of teaching time every year to prepare for and take the tests, and the extra pressure that the tests will place on students, teachers, schools, and school districts. I share my constituents' concerns about this new Federal mandate. I find it interesting that proponents of the NCLB say that it will return more control to the States and local school districts. In my view, however, this massive new Federal testing mandate runs counter to the idea of local control. Many States and local school districts around the country, including Wisconsin, already have comprehensive testing programs in place. The Federal Government should leave decisions about the frequency of using high quality assessments to measure and increase student academic achievement up to the States and local school districts that bear the responsibility for educating our children. Every State and every school district is different. A uniform testing policy may not be the best approach. I have heard from many education professionals in my State that this new testing requirement is a waste of money and a waste of time. These people are dedicated professionals who are committed to educating Wisconsin's children, and they don't oppose testing. I think we can all agree that testing has its place. What they oppose is the magnitude of testing that is required by this law. Beginning in the 2005-2006 school year, the NCLB will pile more tests on our Nation's public school students. And of course, when those tests are piled on students, they burden our teachers as well, because teachers must spend more and more time preparing students to take these exams. This kind of teaching, sometimes called "teaching to the test," is becoming more and more prevalent in our schools as testing has become increasingly common. The dedicated teachers in our classrooms will now be constrained by teaching to yet more tests, instead of being able to use their own judgment about what subject areas the class needs to spend extra time studying. This additional testing time could also reduce the opportunity for teachers to create and implement innovative learning experiences for their students. Teachers in my State are concerned about the amount of time that they will have to spend preparing their students to take the tests and administering the tests. They are concerned that these additional tests will disrupt the flow of education in their classrooms. One teacher said the preparation for the tests Wisconsin already requires in grades 3, 4, 8, and 10 can take up to a month, and the administration of the test takes another week. That is five weeks out of the school year. And now the Federal Government is requiring teachers to take a huge chunk out of instruction time each year in grades 3-8. In my view, and in the view of the people of my state, this time can be better spent on regular classroom instruction. The legislation that I am introducing today, the Student Testing Flexibility Act of 2003, would give States and local school districts that have demonstrated academic success the flexibility to apply to waive the new annual testing requirements in the NCLB. States and school districts with waivers would still be required to administer high quality tests to students in, at a minimum, reading or language arts and mathematics at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12 as required under the law. This bill would allow States and school districts that meet the same specific accountability criteria outlined for school-level excellence under the State Academic Achievement Award Program to apply to the Secretary of Education for a waiver from the new annual reading or language arts and mathematics tests for students in grades 3-8. The waiver would be for a period of three years and would be renewable, so long as the state or school district meets the criteria. To qualify for the waiver, the State or school district must have significantly closed the achievement gap among a number of subgroups of students as required under Title I, or must have exceeded their adequate yearly progress, AYP, goals for two or more consecutive years. The bill would require the Secretary to grant waivers to states or school districts that meet these criteria and apply for the waiver. Individual districts in states that have waivers would not be required to apply for a separate waiver. The Federal Government should not impose an additional layer of testing on states that are succeeding in meeting or exceeding their AYP goals or on closing the achievement gap. Instead, we should allow those States that have demonstrated academic success to use their share of Federal testing money to help those schools that need it the most. The bill I am introducing today would do just that by allowing states with waivers to retain their share of the Federal funding appropriated to develop and implement the new annual tests. These important dollars would be used for activities that these States deem appropriate for improving student achievement at individual public elementary and secondary schools that have failed to make AYP. I am pleased that this legislation is supported by the American Association of School Administrators, the National PTA, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the School Social Work Association of America, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, and the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance, which includes the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials, and the Wisconsin Council for Administrators of Special Services. While this bill focuses on the over-testing of students in our public schools, I would like to note that my constituents have raised a number of other concerns about the NCLB that I hope will be addressed by Congress. My constituents are concerned about, among other things, the new AYP requirements, the effect that the Act will have on rural school districts, and about finding the funding necessary to implement all of these provisions of this new law. I share these concerns. I regret that, for the second year in a row, the President's budget request did not fully fund NCLB requirements and failed to provide any funding to crucial programs such as rural education and school counseling. If we are to truly leave no child behind, we must provide adequate funding for programs such as Title I, special education and professional development in order to ensure that all students have the means to succeed. To do less sets up some of our most vulnerable students for failure. I hope that my bill, the Student Testing Flexibility Act, will help to focus attention on the perhaps unintended consequences of the ongoing implementation of the President's education bill for states, school districts, and individual schools, teachers, and students.

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