Federal Update

FY 2009 Budget Summary and Funding Chart

NSBA compiled a summary of the FY 2009 budget resolutions for the House and Senate and a chart of proposed funding for key education programs. 

Secretary Spellings to take administrative actions on "differentiated accountability" and uniform graduation rates under NCLB

In the last two weeks, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced two major revisions to NCLB that would allow some states to: 1) target interventions on schools systemically failing AYP; and 2) require states to use a uniform method to calculate high school graduation rates as well as to report publicly graduation rates separately for student subgroups. Here are some details of her proposals:

Differentiated Accountability – The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will give permission to up to 10 states to use a so-called “differentiated accountability” system that would allow them to focus reform efforts on low-performing students in schools that missed AYP. Currently all schools missing AYP face the same sanctions regardless of how much they miss the targets. The proposal would differentiate between schools that are systemically struggling and those that are struggling with a specific subgroup.

Uniform and Disaggregated Graduation Rates – This week, Spellings announced that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) will propose rules this month to require all states to use a uniform method to calculate graduation rates and to report disaggregated graduation rates for subgroups. However, she did not elaborate on what specific method and how it would affect AYP determination.

 
   
 
 

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