This week the National Education Association (NEA) put forward detailed recommendations for the overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).  The ESEA is up for renewal this year.

Many of the NEA’s recommendations offer an alternative approach to the Obama Administration’s blueprint for rewriting the Act. The different approach recommended by the NEA continues a recent divergence that began with the Association’s objections to the structure of the Race to the Top Fund.

The recommendations put forth by NEA differ in many ways, including:

• Failing to refer to the idea of “teacher effectiveness” as measured by evaluations that incorporate student academic growth.
• Providing a less prescriptive approach with regard to interventions to turn schools around.
• Proposing fewer standardized tests.
• Judging schools on growth toward an annual performance target and on their progress in closing achievement gaps. Schools that fell below the 5th percentile on one of these indicators would be subject to school improvement which would be local and involve input from external school review teams.
• Adopting the Teacher for Excellence for All Children legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA).
• Establishing stricter entry standards and changes to the law’s current “highly-qualified” teacher designation.
• Creating new requirements on teachers entering the profession through alternative routes.

The release of these recommendations by the NEA is likely to be one of many voices that will be heard in the coming months with regard to changes to the ESEA.