Lawmakers Turn Attention to ESEA Reauthorization

On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held the first hearing of the 114th Congress on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). During the hearing, the committee examined accountability and testing requirements under the existing law and explored some proposals to reform the current testing schedule. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the new HELP committee chairman, recently released a discussion draft of his ESEA reauthorization bill. The draft includes two options for federally required testing. The first would mirror the current testing plan, which includes an annual test in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school (an assessment in science is also required once in elementary, middle and high school). The second would give states the authority to design their own schedule in which they could utilize alternative testing models like grade-span tests, portfolio exams and formative assessments.

Several members of the witness panel, as well as Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, expressed support for annual testing as a means to track student progress. However, there was little consensus among members of the committee on the details of the testing issues, and the hearing raised some additional questions that they will have to address. "The accountability system may be more of a problem than the tests, and the state and local tests may be more of a problem than the federal tests. So they all have to be considered at once, and I don't have a solution yet,” said Alexander.

Additionally, Rep. Jon Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, spoke at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday about his priorities in the new Congress, ESEA being first among them. He pressed the urgency of reauthorizing ESEA and spotlighted the committee’s efforts in the 113^th Congress to pass the Student Success Act. He criticized the Obama Administration for issuing temporary waivers to provide relief from certain onerous requirements of the law, while placing “new federal mandates” on states.  He reasserted his desire to provide states with greater flexibility in the use of federal funding, particularly ESEA Title I funds. He referenced the reauthorization of the Perkins Act and praised high-quality CTE programs in connecting students with the skills needed for success in the workforce.