RRCNA Advocacy Update - September, 2007

Dear RRCNA Members:

Congress returns this week to a full plate of education funding and policy issues. Highlights include:

1. RRCNA Analysis available of ESEA/Title I Discussion Draft.
    
2. Hearing on the discussion draft is scheduled for Monday, September 10th in the House Education and Labor Committee.
    
3. USDE People News: Norma Garza named Executive Director to the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES); USDE Deputy Secretary Ray Simon named Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
    
4. Reading First Advisory Committee conducts inaugural meeting.
    
5. National Conference of State Legislatures kicks off 2007 America’s Legislators Back to School Program the third week of September. For other advocacy events and opportunities this fall, go to the RRCNA Advocacy Calendar.

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1. ESEA/Title I Discussion Draft: The House Education and Labor Committee released a bi-partisan discussion draft on August 28, 2007 to reauthorize Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/NCLB. The draft is as interesting for what it doesn’t include as for what it does. An analysis by RRCNA is on the website. The discussion draft and other info are also online.
    
2. ESEA hearing: The hearing web cast begins 10:00 am EDT on Monday, September 10th.
    
3. USDE People: Norma Garza, former member of the National Reading Panel, has been named executive director of the NBES. The NBES oversees the Institute for Education Sciences and the executive director staffs the board members. This position is separate and distinct from Russ Whitehurst’s position as director of IES, which is a presidential appointment. In other news, Ray Simon is doing double duty as Deputy Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for OSERS. Other OSERS vacancies are the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Office of Special Education Programs.
    
4. Reading First Advisory Committee: One of the Inspector General’s findings about Reading First concluded that the Department never convened the oversight and advisory panel required by statute to review state grant applications, calling into question whether they were approved in compliance with the law. Therefore, the inaugural meeting of the on August 20- 22, 2007 was of great interest and attended by education media, RRCNA, and congressional oversight staff. Highlights include:

• Leadership - Katherine Mitchell was selected as chair of the Committee. Mitchell is an Asst. Superintendent at the Alabama Department of Education and director of the Alabama Reading Initiative.
• Data - The Committee spent a great deal of time discussing the availability and adequacy of state data for Reading First. The discussion was interesting in light of repeated claims by the Department that Reading First works.
• Next Steps - The Committee will focus on identifying and requesting different analyses and presentations of Reading First data and is tentatively scheduled to meet again October 15 – 16, 2007.
• Other - The Committee considered one state application (Puerto Rico) which ultimately was not recommended for approval. The Committee recommended two targeted assistance grants (for Virginia and Massachusetts), which are awarded competitively to States and LEAs based on evidence that they have increased significantly the percentage of 3rd grade students reading at the proficient level and are improving the reading skills of students in the 1st through 3rd grades.
• Additional info: Materials given to committee members are posted on the RRCNA website. It’s a large document (111 p.), but it includes the Agenda, member bios, charter for the Committee and other documents. RRCNA will closely monitor the Committee and advocate for reform of Reading First.