Mr. Graves met with about 15 local school district administrators at the St. Joseph School District’s Troester Media Center to discuss the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, which aims to bring all students’ math and reading test scores to proficient levels by 2014. Test score goals rise each year.

A reauthorization that comes with changes educators consider as more fair has gained support with national lawmakers. So Mr. Graves’ talk of a stall disappointed the administrators.

“We hoped that this year would bring reauthorization with changes,” said Dr. Melody Smith, St. Joseph’s superintendent.

Mr. Graves supports three changes, which area educators also support.

The three changes, which Mr. Graves says “could solve most of the problems we have in Missouri,” are:

He thinks special education students’ performance should be based on their individual education plans (IEPs) rather than grade level tests. Many local districts face federal funding punishments because their special education students haven’t met test goals.

He supports tracking individual students’ progress from year to year instead of comparing this year’s sixth-grade to last year’s sixth-grade, for example.

Mr. Graves thinks school districts that miss a test goal in one category, such as special education students’ scores, should face less harsh punishments than districts that miss the mark in many categories.

Full Story: http://www.sjnp.net/news/2007/nov/28/education-reform-losing-steam/