H.R> 3354, State Assessment Grants Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my bipartisan amendment to H.R. 3354 to increase funding for State Assessment Grants.

I want to thank my colleague and friend, Representative Costello for his continued leadership on this issue, and for his commitment to a successful implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

In the last Congress, we passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bipartisan bill, to leave behind No Child Left Behind. After 14 years, Democrats and Republicans in both Chambers came together on a compromise legislation to update federal K-12 education policy and reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

ESSA ensures equity protections for America's students. It supports our most vulnerable and underserved students and works to close the achievement gap. ESSA gives states and school districts flexibility to develop their own plans for holding schools accountable, measuring student success, and encouraging improvements. It also recognizes the important role of assessments in education. Assessments serve as a tool to monitor student progress and gauge how students are performing across each state. Assessments also inform teacher instruction by providing valuable information to support student learning. ESSA includes provisions from the SMART Act, a bipartisan bill I authored with Representative Costello to help make assessments more effective.

Our amendment would provide full funding for ESSA's State Assessment Grants. State Assessment Grants provide critical resources to help states and school districts build high-quality assessment systems that support teachers and students. By fully funding State Assessment Grants, states and school districts can audit their assessment systems and reduce excessive, repetitive testing. This funding can also help states--like my home state of Oregon--develop new assessments to strengthen student learning. Oregon is preparing to pilot a K-3 formative assessment to improve student outcomes.

The good work being done in Oregon is an example of what is possible if states have the resources and flexibility they need to focus on student success. I thank my colleague Representative Costello for his partnership, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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