The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved the Student Success Act on Thursday that would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and provide states a new tool to improve the development of teachers and principals.
The bill was passed in a 23-16 vote. It contains provisions from separate legislation known as the GREAT Teachers and Principals Act that was authored by Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.).
Petri’s legislation would give states flexibility to use a portion of the funds they receive for teacher and principal reforms to support the development of teacher or principal preparation academies.
“Being a teacher is one of the most important jobs in the country,” Petri said. “And it’s not an easy one. Yet, many teachers still report being unprepared for their work in the classroom. So I’m glad the committee included these provisions in their bill.”
The academies would be selective in their admissions processes and emphasize hands-on preparation by pairing their candidates with successful teachers or principals in the classroom. The academies would also be required to produce a certain number of effective graduates in order to maintain their authority to operate.
The committee also included language from Petri’s bill, the Assessment Accuracy and Improvement Act, which would allow states to fulfill No Child Left Behind testing requirements by using computer-based adaptive testing.
Adaptive testing adjusts the difficulty of subsequent questions based on each student’s level of competence.
“By including these provisions in the reauthorization of federal education policy, states will be able to better evaluate how their students are performing,” Petri said.