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U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced two new policies that will help students who are new to this country and the English language while also giving states and local school districts greater flexibility to help these students and still meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind education reform law. Secretary Paige made the announcement at a press conference accompanied by Latino singer Jon Secada, who came to the United States from Cuba and attended school in Miami as a new immigrant. Also in attendance were current English language learners, their parents and teachers.

The new policies take effect immediately for schools and districts with limited English proficient (LEP) students. A number of states have students representing more than 100 languages, making it very difficult to provide native language assessments for all students. There are 5.5 million LEP students in U.S. public schools.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools must show adequate yearly progress (AYP) in making sure that all students achieve academic proficiency in order to close the achievement gap. So that every child counts, NCLB requires states to include the academic achievement results of all students, including LEP students, in AYP calculations. LEP students new to the United States often have a difficult time participating in state assessments due to language barriers or the lack of schooling prior to coming to the United States from their native countries. Thus, it is often difficult to assess LEP students’ content knowledge in reading/language arts in their first year of enrollment in a U.S. public school.

The new flexibility will allow LEP students, during their first year of enrollment in U.S. schools, to have the option of taking the reading/language arts content assessment in addition to taking the English language proficiency assessment. They would take the mathematics assessment, with accommodations as appropriate. States may, but would not be required to, include results from the mathematics and, if given, the reading/language arts content assessments in AYP calculations, which are part of the accountability requirements under NCLB.

Since LEP students exit the LEP subgroup once they attain English language proficiency, states may have difficulty demonstrating improvements on state assessments for these students. Accordingly, the other new flexibility would, for AYP calculations, allow states for up to two years to include in the LEP subgroup students who have attained English proficiency. This is an option for states and would give states the flexibility to allow schools and local education agencies (LEAs) to get credit for improving English language proficiency from year to year.

"Generations of immigrants have come to America seeking a better way of life for their families,"said Secretary Paige. "They came here because they believe in freedom. We have an obligation to honor the values of our immigrants—hard work and enterprise, faith and family—by giving every child the opportunity to fulfill his or her ambitions and to live the American dream. There is no more certain path to realizing this goal than through education.

"No Child Left Behind is designed to ensure that all our nation’s children get the quality education they deserve, regardless of their origins,"he added. "This new policy ensures that states and schools continue to get the assessment information they need to target their efforts and help all children get to grade level in reading and math. We will not rest until no child is left behind, and we will continue to work with educators on the ground to use the flexibility in the law to make it work in the classroom and school building.

"No Child Left Behind provides historic levels of funding for states to design and implement annual tests for all children—regardless of race, income or disability—to let parents know the quality of the education their children are receiving. NCLB provides more than $13 billion for LEP students for English language acquisition and academic achievement.

For more information on the No Child Left Behind Act, visit www.ed.gov.

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