A couple interesting developments to report on today, in the wake of draft language being proposed for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind.

First update is on NCLB re-authorization. A 435 page draft bill was released on September 5, with a hearing scheduled for five days later to discuss the draft among key players in the education reform field (students themselves excluded, of course). The draft revistis a lot of the key issues and challenges that educators have identified in the original bill, with three key ones being "multiple measures", "growth models", and teacher pay.

Multiple measures is a buzz word for increasing "flexibility" in the law, which is itself a buzz word to some reformers for "watering down" the law. Put simply, the concept of multiple measures states that schools should be allowed to show whether they are meeting annual yearly progress goals for student achievement through more ways than just student test scores. Some of the measures suggested include dropout and graduation rates, college going rates, and subject area tests in fields other than math and reading. Supporters of this change argue that NCLB has been too rigid in its focus on standardized tests. Opponents suggest that any watering down of the bill will basically allow all schools to escape real accountability since there are many ways to "game" the system and say that a school is succeeding.

Growth models refer to a topic I've mentioned many times before - the idea that a school should be measured based on how much its students are improving in key subject areas each year when compared to themselves, and not when compared to last year's students in the same grade. In other words, if a school is increasing learning gains of a 5th grade classroom by 1.2 years worth in math and reading, that school should be marked as succeeding even if a greater number of kids this year are below proficient than were below proficient last year.

Merit pay is another subject I've discussed on this blog before - the concept that teachers should be paid based at least in part on their outputs, not just their inputs. More info on that here. I'm also linking here to an article describing a debate between House Education chairman George Miller (CA) and the President of the NEA, Reg Weaver, who opposes any merit-based payment system for teachers.

Lastly, a couple developments in the world of charter schools, which has new meaning to me since I'm now teaching in one. First development is out of Los Angeles, where the Green Dot Schools company led by Steve Barr has successfully won the right to take control over its first city school and hopefully serve some of the children there better than they've been getting. Second development is a controversial plan in DC to turn some parochial schools in the district that are facing budget woes into charter schools after scrapping their religious teachings.