Will SUCCESS help states succeed?

In his January 6 radio address, President Bush encouraged bipartisan support for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind:

Another area where Democrats and Republicans can work together is in the effort to improve our schools.We have done so before. In my first year as President, Democrats and Republicans saw that our schools were failing too many students, so we worked together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act. This good law gave our schools new resources -- and in return, we asked them to show results.

By setting high standards and measuring student progress, we're holding schools accountable for teaching every student to read, write, add, and subtract.Since No Child Left Behind was passed, we have seen major improvements in student achievement all across America. In reading, nine-year-olds have made larger gains in the last five years of the test than in the previous 28 years. In math, nine-year-olds and 13-year-olds earned the highest scores in the history of the test. And in both reading and math, African-American and Hispanic students are scoring higher and starting to close the achievement gap.

This year the No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization. I'm confident that both parties can work together to help our Nation's students. By reauthorizing this important legislation, we can help make our schools a gateway to opportunity for every child .

A new channel of opportunity may be opening up. On January 4, Sen. Edward Kennedy discussed plans to work on a bipartisan basis with Senate and House colleagues and the Administration to develop a strong bipartisan bill to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act and outlined additional priorities for that reauthorization, including proposals to help improve low-performing schools, enhance teacher quality and provide incentives for high quality teachers to teach in low-performing schools, provide extended learning time, improve high school graduation rates, and expand parent and community involvement in schools.

A plan for SUCCESS

In introducing the new States Using Collaboration and Coordination to Enhance Standards for Students (SUCCESS) Act, Kennedy noted that "because of budget cuts and poor implementation, we still have much to do to ensure that no child is left behind. President Bush has short-changed the promise made in the law by nearly $56 billion, leaving millions of children without the resources needed to reduce class sizes, improve teaching, and set higher standards for our schools."

The SUCCESS Act, Kennedy continued, would assist states in obtaining those resources. "As the name suggests," he said, "it would provide federal support for States Using Collaboration and Cooperation to Enhance Standards for Students. It would help ensure that public schools challenge all students to learn to high standards and provide needed help to schools with the greatest needs."

The legislation, Kennedy stated, "updates the nation's report card - the National Assessment of Educational Progress - to ensure that it sets a national benchmark which is internationally competitive and is aligned with the demands of the 21st century global economy. It expands our ability to monitor science achievement. It requires the NAEP to measure student preparedness to enter college, the 21st century workforce, or the Armed Services. It also requires the Secretary of Education to examine the gaps in student performance on state-level assessments and NAEP assessments, and to assist states that wish to analyze how their standards and assessments compare to the benchmark."

Other points of SUCCESS Act:

• It provides critical resources to states to create "P-16" Preparedness Councils that will engage members of the early childhood, K-12 and higher education communities, along with the business and military communities, and other stakeholders to align the standards with what is needed for success in college and the workforce.
• It provides funds to encourage collaboration among states in raising the bar for student achievement by providing grants to states working together to establish common standards and assessments that are rigorous, internationally competitive, and aligned with postsecondary demands.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues on this and other important proposals as we move toward the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act ," Kennedy said. " Teachers deserve the resources they need to help students achieve at higher levels. In many schools, the most valuable resource that teachers require is time. Yet the U.S. ranks 11th among industrialized nations in the number of days children attend school. Innovative approaches are needed to extend the school day and year in high-need schools. We should recruit Americorps volunteers to coordinate academically oriented extended-day programs for students and assist teachers during the school day."