Senate NCLB Draft: Two Noteworthy COMPETES Programs Appear Repealed; Sections on MSP and Math Now Included

The Senate’s partial NCLB draft that recently became available is another sign that Congress would like to get some work done on NCLB reauthorization this year, however there is a lot of uncertainty in the air still (see this Education Week article for an overview). The Senate's draft legislation for Title I is available here, and Title II here (PDFs). The draft does not include a number of sections on the more controversial areas of teacher pay and accountability. The role of science in AYP, therefore, is also left unaddressed for the moment. We urge readers to consider contacting Congress to express their opinion regarding the place of science in AYP. For our part, we support its inclusion as a mandatory part of AYP calculations, and added our name to a recent Roll Call ad to that end (pictured to the left, and available here). The John Glenn Academies, another important STEM education program in the House draft, has not yet been included in the Senate draft either. However, the Senate draft does include Math Science Partnerships and the Math Now/Math Skills programs—the latter of which appears to include the repeal of a few noteworthy programs from the America COMPETES Act. An overview comparison of the House and Senate versions of each program can be found below.

Math Science Partnerships

Logistically speaking, the traditional “Mathematics and Science Partnerships” title is maintained in the Senate version, returned to its original location in Title II, Part B. The authorization amount for Math Science Partnerships (MSP) has been left blank in the Senate draft, as it was in the House (please note that authorization amounts, while worth noting, do not allocate funding, as appropriations bills do; for the latest on MSP funding, see our recent news on Labor-HHS appropriations). Most other language for MSP in the Senate draft is the same as the House, however there were two notable differences at this point.

The Senate draft maintains a pair of “authorized activities” which were left out of the House draft, but were both in the original NCLB bill. The first would allow funds to be used to recruit math, science and engineering majors into teaching (signing and performance incentives, stipends for teacher certification, scholarships for advanced degrees, etc.). The second would allow funds to be used for “developing or redesigning more rigorous mathematics and science curricula” that align with State and postsecondary study standards.

Math Now, Math Skills Programs

As a refresher, both Math Now and Math Skills provide grants through SEAs to “high-need” LEAs to improve math performance in K-12 schools. Both programs were also authorized in the recently passed America COMPETES Act.

The Senate draft has the same format for these as America COMPETES does, targeting K-9th grade students with Math Now, and secondary school students with Math Skills. In the Senate draft, the two programs are placed in separate sections under the heading of “Student Math Skills Improvement Grants,” in Title I, Part I. However, as we previously explained, the House draft combined these two programs into “Math Success for All,” in part D of Title II, a completely different title than that of the Senate draft. The fact that the programs are not only combined in the House draft, but also authorized under a single amount, is a significant difference, as the Senate version would authorize separate amounts for each program. In fact, the Senate follows the lead of the America COMPETES authorization again here, authorizing each of the programs at $95M for 2008. The House draft does not yet state an authorization amount (although in both houses Math Now has received zero appropriations funding so far this year, notwithstanding the President’s requested total of $250M).

As mentioned above, the section including Math Now and Math Skills within the Senate draft actually repeals a number of America COMPETES programs. A few appear to be non-consequential, as they are accounted for with similar authorization language in the Senate draft (e.g., sections 6201 and 6203 of COMPETES on Math Now and Math Skills are repealed, but included in the Senate draft). However, two other COMPETES programs that appear to be repealed, sections 6131 and 6202, are more significant. The first, 6131, was authorized at $1.2M, and would have established an “expert panel” to provide information on “promising practices” to strengthen K-12 STEM education. The second, 6202, did not yet have an authorization amount, and was to provide for “Summer Term Education Programs.” The programs would provide funding for 25-30 days of “summer learning” in math, technology, problem-solving and engineering to mainly low-income, K-8th grade students. Neither of these sections appear to have been moved from the COMPETES authorization into the Senate draft.

As the reauthorization process continues, we will be watching these programs and others to provide ongoing updates. On a related note, summaries and full text versions of the House’s NCLB draft, which were recently removed from the main House Education and Labor Committee site, are available here, on the Republicans’ version of the Committee site.