National Standards: NASSP is an endorsing partner of the Common Core State Standards Initiative which is a state-led effort to develop a common core of state standards in grades K–12 for English/language arts and mathematics. Building on our position statement in support of national standards we urge the development and implementation of common high-quality assessments aligned with standards and call upon ED to appraise the progress being made by states to adopt and implement the standards. We also recommend that the federal government offer incentives for states and districts to develop graduation requirements that let students to select from multiple pathways to graduation and ensure that students have access to academic supports that help them stay on seek toward graduation.

School Leadership: Reiterating our support for additional funding for principal training and professional development NASSP encourages Congress to enact the School Principal Recruitment and Training Act (H.R. 4354/S. 2896) and the Instructional Leadership Act (not-yet-introduced) like a part of ESEA reauthorization. The bills would authorize grant programs to prepare principals to lead high-need schools and incorporate standards of instructional leadership into state principal certification or licensure requirements. We also urge the administration to consider our position statements on highly efficient principals and professional compensation for principals in developing proposals for principal evaluation and pay-for-performance programs. Finally we inspire Congress and the administration to support the National Board Certification for Educational Leaders recently launched by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Literacy: NASSP urges the administration to support the Literacy Education for All Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act (H.R. 4037/S. 2740) which would authorize comprehensive state and local literacy initiatives and construct on the best components of the federal Early Reading First Reading First and Striving Readers programs. The goals of the bill are very much in line with Creating a Culture of Literacy a conduct written for principals to use as they team with staff members to improve their students’ literacy skills by assessing student strengths and weaknesses identifying professional development needs employing effective literacy strategies along all content areas and establishing intervention programs for struggling students.

Middle Level and High School Reform: Building on the Breaking Ranks framework for academy reform NASSP has called upon the federal government to supply additional resources for our nation’s middle level and high schools. We support legislative proposals that would create a new funding stream for school improvement at the secondary school level implement an early warning and intervention system to recognize at-risk students and provide differentiated and evidence-based interventions in eligible schools. Enacting the Success in the Middle Act (H.R. 3006/S. 1362) hand-in-hand with the Graduation Promise Act (H.R. 4181/S. 1698) would strengthen ESEA by providing the support requisite to turn round our nation’s lowest-performing middle and high schools and give our struggling students the help they need from preschool through graduation.

Graduation Rates: NASSP supported the final Title I rule that requires states to use a identical and exact method of calculating graduation rates except has concerns with defining the graduation rate as the “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate.” Because not all students enter the ninth grade reading and writing at grade level we have long recommended that the graduation rate be extended to within at least five years of entering high school. State should be required to use as a supplement to the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate extended adjusted cohort graduation rates that are approved by ED. In addition identified special-needs students who complete high school with a state-approved exit document should have until age 21 inclusive to be counted as graduates as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Growth Models: As stated in the NCLB Task Force recommendations states should be allowed to measure sufficient yearly progress (AYP) for each student subgroup on the foundation of state-developed growth formulas that count growth in individual student achievement from year to year. NASSP has been very pleased with the expansion of the growth model pilot program which was first announced in 2006 and we hope that growth models will have a permanent place in a newly reauthorized ESEA.

Multiple Measures of Student Performance: NASSP recommends that states should be allowed to use multiple measures of student performance in determining AYP including state assessments in subjects beyond reading and language arts mathematics and science; portfolios performance tasks and other examples of a student’s accomplishments; traditional quizzes and tests; interviews questionnaires and conferences; end-of-course exams; comprehensive personal academic or graduation plans; assessments aligned with high school and university entry requirements; and senior projects.