Fairfax County school officials will likely push a bundle of legislative proposals aimed at thwarting No Child Left Behind standards and expanding alternativesto reading tests that non-English-speaking students are ill prepared for.
The recommendations, geared toward changing both state and federal law, are the latest move in a battle with the U.S. Department of Education over accountability standards established in the sweeping 2001 education law.
In particular, Fairfax County officials have attacked what they say are overly rigid reading tests for students that speak only limited English. Low scores were a significant factor in the school system’s failure to meet No Child Left Behind Standards for the first time this year.
The proposals, now in draft form, will be considered by the School Board in November, said Chairman Dan Storck.
Among the many measures, Fairfax will push for more state and federal funding for alternate reading assessments, an exemption from the reading tests for students who recently moved to the United States, and enough money to nearly double the number of English-as-second-language teachers.
“What we’re looking for is flexibility to assess students on their language ability, and [put in place] the different kinds of tests that staff would use to do that,” said Storck.
Much of the success of the Fairfax proposals in 2008 could be determined by the upcoming General Assembly election, said Ken Reinshuttle, executive director of the Fairfax County Education Association. Both the FEA and Fairfax County are also concerned with disparity in education funding between Northern Virginia and the rest of the commonwealth.
“There has been less of a sensitivity to those kinds of issues in the current power structure,” he said.
Both houses of the General Assembly are controlled by the GOP. Democrats are expected to make gains in both chambers in November, and possibly take control of the Senate for the first time since 1999.
