iNACOL Applauds U.S. Congress ESEA Conference Committee Vote to Reauthorize Federal K-12 Education Law

Washington, DC (November 19, 2015) – Today, the United States House of Representatives and Senate Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Conference Committee voted overwhelmingly (39-1) in favor of advancing an agreement to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which would replace No Child Left Behind.

The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) President and CEO Susan Patrick, along with Vice President for Federal and State Policy Maria Worthen, issued the following statement:

“iNACOL applauds leaders in the House and Senate for their bipartisanship in reaching a compromise agreement to reauthorize ESEA. Today’s actions represent a historic step toward fixing No Child Left Behind and supporting the success and achievement of all students.

States are making progress on creating personalized, competency-based pathways for students to improve student learning outcomes. Removing the barriers from outdated federal K-12 education policies will help enable the adoption of student-centered learning models.”

Recently, iNACOL published The iNACOL Federal Policy Frameworks 2015 which provide concrete, actionable recommendations for policymakers to align policy to student-centered learning. Through ESEA reauthorization, Congress can support the shift to new, personalized learning models by redesigning assessments, rethinking accountability, and supporting the modernization of educator and leadership development, among other actions.

iNACOL applauds the bi-partisan effort to move the ESEA forward. Next steps are to evaluate the compromise agreement which will be available on November 30. Then, both the House of Representatives and the Senate have scheduled time for a floor vote the first week of December. Follow @nacol on Twitter for updates with #ESEA.

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About iNACOL

The mission of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is to catalyze the transformation of K-12 education policy and practice to design powerful, personalized, learner-centered experiences through competency-based, blended and online learning. iNACOL is a non-profit organization focusing on research, developing policy for student-centered education to ensure equity and access, developing quality standards for emerging learning models using online, blended, and competency-based education, and supporting the ongoing professional development of classroom, school, and district leaders for new learning models. Visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on twitter.