Congress on Verge of Passing Major Education Reform

Press Release

Congress is on the verge of approving a major overhaul of federal education law that will give states and school districts more flexibility while raising student achievement in the classroom and providing schools and teachers with new resources and support.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) helped author key sections of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and seeks to fix the broken Bush-era No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law that was signed into law nearly fourteen years ago.

After years of work, and extensive negotiations between the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, the House this week adopted the compromise measure that contains a number of the education priorities Senator Reed spearheaded, including improving access to effective school library programs, enhancing professional development for teachers and principals, increasing the focus on resource equity, and strengthening family engagement and environmental education initiatives.

"The No Child Left Behind law was well intentioned, but flawed and underfunded. This represents a significant improvement. We need to set high expectations for all students and empower states and school districts to help them achieve," said Reed.

ESSA will help ensure all students have access to a high-quality public education. It allows states to develop more holistic and robust accountability systems that move beyond test scores as the sole measure of school success. It also includes federal protections to help ensure that all students -- regardless of family income, race, ethnicity, or disability -- graduate from high school ready for the next step, whether it be college or the workforce.

"Our challenge and our responsibility is to create and support learning environments that enable young people to hone their talents, discover their skills, and pursue their passions. This bipartisan education bill advances those fundamental goals," continued Reed. "The Every Student Succeeds Act isn't perfect, but it will improve the way we approach education in this country, and it will put our young people on a clearer path to sustained achievement both inside and outside of the classroom. The ESSA maintains the critical transparency for results and high expectations for all students, while updating the parts of NCLB that have become unworkable and counterproductive."

Several Reed-authored measures were included in the final bill, including provisions from the Core Opportunity Resources for Equity and Excellence (CORE) Act, which will bring some long-overdue transparency to resource equity to schools and require states to report on key measures of school quality beyond student achievement on statewide assessments, including: student access to experienced and effective educators; access to rigorous and advanced coursework; availability of career and technical educational opportunities; and safe and healthy school learning environments.

"At its core, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is about more than the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. It is about preparing young people for what comes next: postsecondary education, careers, and a lifetime of learning and civic engagement. I am convinced that if we provide schools with equitable resources and equal access to those resources, support our teachers and principals, and engage parents in their child's education, students will thrive," concluded Reed.

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