New America
Education Policy

Supporting Early Learners in ESEA

Blog Post
By 

Abbie Lieberman

Jan. 14, 2015

The education community has been abuzz with talk of ESEA reauthorization since the 114th Congress settled into Capitol Hill last week. Newly appointed Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has made reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, more commonly known as No Child Left Behind-- it’s most recent iteration, his first priority. The law, which aims to improve overall student achievement and close achievement gaps, is widely considered a failure and has been up for reauthorization since 2007. Eager for change, policymakers and advocates have been preparing for reauthorization for more than eight years.

Congress has made multiple attempts to reauthorize the law, but has been impeded by partisan politics. It’s much too soon to tell whether Congress will be able to pass a bill that President Obama is willing to sign, but after this week, we have a better idea of what policymakers’ priorities are.

Secretary Duncan outlined the Obama administration’s priorities on Monday. And judging by the Secretary’s speech-- my colleagues provide a comprehensive overview here-- it looks like the administration will hold firm on hotly contested issues like annual testing and teacher accountability. He also emphasized the importance of better incorporating early education, namely pre-K, into ESEA, which has largely focused on K-12 education in the past. This isn’t surprising considering President Obama’s commitment to improving access to high quality early education programs.

Last night, Senator Alexander unveiled his plan for reauthorization, which closely resembles a bill he drafted in 2013. The Senator calls for limiting the role of the federal government and increasing flexibility for states, and specifically does not want to see U.S. Department of Education involving itself in teacher evaluation policy. He also left space for dialogue around testing, presenting two options-- one that would that would give states more leeway and one that would largely maintain the existing assessment schedule. Alexander says he plans to work with Democrats to produce a bipartisan bill, but acknowledged that this will be challenging.

The Senate education committee’s ranking member, Patty Murray (D-WA), also presented her priorities yesterday. In line with the Obama administration, she wants to see an increased focus on early education and doesn’t plan to budge on annual testing, although she did note that it would be important to “work to reduce redundant and unnecessary tests.” As a former preschool teacher, Murray has been a long-time advocate for early education. We’ll be watching to see if Murray and Alexander can come to agreement on language for expanding early education in ESEA.

We will continue to cover ESEA on EdCentral as negotiations take place in the coming months. Our past coverage of early learning in ESEA and 2010 consensus recommendations to policymakers for reauthorization are available below.

Previous Coverage from Early Ed Watch

Consensus recommendations to policy makers (drafting led by Early Education Initiative at New America)

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