LETTERS TO CONGRESS
May 7, 2010
Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi:
We are writing on behalf of the Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA), representing business leaders from every sector of the economy, to provide our recommendations for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The BCSA is organized around the principle that improving the K-12 education system in the United Sates is necessary to provide a strong foundation for both U.S. competiveness and for individuals to succeed in our rapidly changing world. We are committed to working with all stakeholders on this essential task.
John Castellani, President of the Business Roundtable, recently had the opportunity to testify before your Committee on behalf of the BCSA on the need to reauthorize and improve ESEA. At that time we also included a more thorough listing of our key principles for reforming ESEA for the Committee’s consideration. We are attaching this document that outlines the BCSA principles once again for your review.
BCSA believes that reauthorization of ESEA should be a top priority in the remaining months of this Congress. Federal law must be updated to recognize the key changes that have occurred since this law was last revamped including: the common standards movement; over $100 billion in federal stimulus dollars for new and existing programs to support states, school districts, and schools; advances in technology and data systems to inform learning and to measure school, student and teacher performance; new Department of Education regulations; and additional research about what works in education – to name but a few.
As you reauthorize ESEA, we ask you to maintain your commitment to these key goals:
- State-driven, internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments to reflect readiness for college, workplace, and international competition;
- Holding all schools accountable while putting a laser-like focus on ending dropout factories;
- Measuring and rewarding teacher and administrator success based on student achievement;
- Fostering a “client centered approach” by districts and schools;
- Leveraging data systems to inform instruction, improvement, and interventions;
- Investing in school improvement and encouraging technology and other innovations to improve student achievement; and
- Improving “STEM” education.
In addition to these key principles, we would like to highlight two additional issues of significant importance to the business community: maintaining the strongest and clearest possible accountability provisions in a newly reauthorized ESEA and the ability of individual businesses to competitively provide their services to schools.
In our view, a strong accountability system is the cornerstone of ESEA. This means high-quality standards, measuring progress towards achieving those standards, and maintaining a clear and understandable system of holding all of the players in the process accountable for achieving results. We are concerned that some of the current plans for reauthorization are overly complex and raise serious questions about whether the bar is being lowered for some schools on the “middle of the achievement scale” to produce results. The BCSA believes schools that have gaps in the achievement levels of significant numbers of their students—even those that do not fall within an arbitrary percentage of low performing schools—must be held to accountable to take concrete steps to improve their performance.
We ask that you continue to recognize the crucial role business can play in promoting educational improvement at the federal, state, and local levels. We have worked side-by-side with the Administration, Members of Congress, Governors, state and local officials, and organizations of all types on a bipartisan basis on behalf of the principles listed above. We will continue to do so every chance we get.
Private companies are critical partners with schools and government in improving the educational experiences for our students. Their continued participation in the efforts to help students, teachers and schools achieve better results should be encouraged.
Thank you for your consideration of BCSA’s priorities for reauthorization. We strongly urge Congress to retain its commitment to education reforms that raise student achievement and close the achievement gap within the U.S. and between the U.S. and high-performing nations. We look forward to working with you to pass an effective bill this year.
Sincerely,
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Craig Barrett |
William B. Green Chairman & CEO Prudential Financial, Inc. Co-Chair, BCSA |
Edward B. Rust Jr. |
* Click here to download this letter as a PDF.
March 12, 2010
TO MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE
On behalf of the Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA), we are submitting the attached Principles for Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
The Business Coalition for Student Achievement – representing business leaders from every sector of the economy – believes that improving the K-12 education system in the United States is necessary to provide a strong foundation for both U.S. competitiveness and for individuals to succeed in our rapidly changing world. We are committed to working with all stakeholders on this essential task.
Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) should be a top priority of the 111th Congress. Our principles for reauthorization reflect the business community’s sense of urgency about the significant changes needed to enable all students to reach internationally benchmarked standards and higher levels of achievement.
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Craig Barrett |
William B. Green Chairman & CEO Prudential Financial, Inc. Co-Chair, BCSA |
Edward B. Rust Jr. |
* Click here to download this letter as a PDF.
June 18, 2008
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
On behalf of the Business Coalition for Student Achievement (BCSA), representing business leaders from every sector of the economy and whose membership is listed below, we strongly urge you to oppose any legislative proposals, including those that may come up through the appropriations process, that would weaken accountability for improving student achievement under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
BCSA believes that NCLB can be improved in ways that enhance the ability of schools to serve students, but that any proposals should be carefully examined through the usual committee consideration process. Specifically, BCSA believes that any proposal that would suspend the NCLB requirements to identify schools in need of improvement raises many serious concerns and deserves a thorough debate in its development. Such a suspension proposal would result in removing from students, teachers, schools, and parents additional resources and assistance devoted to ensuring improved academic achievement for those students and schools most in need. These resources that would be removed include additional school improvement funds for local schools and extra technical assistance for teachers in their efforts to boost student achievement.
The BCSA believes that improving the performance of the K-12 education system in the United States is essential for ensuring the American education system prepares our youth to succeed and our nation to be competitive in our rapidly changing world. BCSA supports exploring these improvements through a process that allows for a thorough and deliberate examination of how best to support our students, teachers, and schools in their improvement efforts. The traditional process allowing for guidance from the authorizing committees, who have developed policy expertise, will allow for careful examination of the various school improvement and reform proposals, and should be followed.
BCSA stands firm in its support for the key principles of NCLB. This law has been instrumental in focusing our nation, through information reported to parents and the public, on improving the academic achievement of all students and closing the achievement gap. The business community understands the importance of a high quality education for all students, and BSCA will continue to call for strong accountability for improved achievement.
Sincerely,
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Arthur J. Rothkopf |
Susan Traiman Director, Education and Workforce Policy Business Roundtable |
* Click here to download this letter as a PDF.
February 15, 2007
To All Members of Congress:
As Co-Chairs of the Business Coalition for Student Achievement, we are writing to urge you to strengthen, improve and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act this year.
Our coalition represents business leaders from every sector of the economy. From our vantage point as employers who hire the graduates of U.S. schools, colleges and universities, we believe that raising student achievement in our K-12 schools is critical for our nation’s competitiveness and for individual success in our rapidly changing world.
That is why we supported passage of NCLB in 2001, why we are committed to sustaining the fundamental features of this historic law that are designed to raise student performance and close achievement gaps, and why we are recommending specific enhancements to the law in 2007. The enclosed Framework for Reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act: Recommendations to Improve and Strengthen the Law calls on Congress to address six areas that need attention during reauthorization:
- Focus on college and workplace readiness.
- Emphasize science, technology, engineering and math.
- Enhance data-driven decision making.
- Increase teacher and principal effectiveness.
- Strengthen and refine accountability.
- Invest in school improvement and innovation.
We have two cautions as Congress begins the reauthorization process:
First, do not postpone reauthorization until after the 2008 Presidential election. Two years is a very long time in our worldwide economy. U.S. students must be prepared to succeed in this dynamic environment that places an increasingly high value on skills and knowledge.
Second, be aware that there are myths and considerable misinformation about what NCLB does and does not require from educators. We hope you will listen to divergent views and visit schools where all students are achieving at significantly higher levels than they did in the past.
We stand ready to work with you on reauthorization of No Child Left Behind this year.
Sincerely,
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Craig Barrett |
Arthur F. Ryan Chairman & CEO Prudential Financial, Inc. |
Edward B. Rust Jr. Chairman & CEO State Farm |
* Click here to download this letter as a PDF.
