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The intent of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in its current form is to ensure that all students are held to high achievement standards and that there is accountability for every student’s success. The Learning First Alliance has long applauded these goals and shares a commitment to ensuring that standards of excellence are adopted and implemented in every public school district in the nation. LFA and its members have advocated (and continue to advocate) for improving ESEA in ways that support educators, student learning and local public school reform.

However, ESEA is now more than three years overdue for reauthorization. And despite the noble intentions of the law, it is widely acknowledged that it contains unfair, counterproductive and overly burdensome regulations. These regulations require local districts to focus scarce resources on compliance, sanctions and reporting that do little to contribute to student success.

Given known flaws in the current iteration of ESEA, and concern that reauthorization will not occur prior to the start of the 2011-12 school year, 16 members of the Learning First Alliance have joined together to send the U.S. Secretary of Education a letter urging the Department of Education to explore its authority for offering appropriate and immediate regulatory relief around ESEA.

This request is predicated on our desire to focus the limited resources available for public education in ways most directly ensuring the highest level of student learning and achievement.

Read the letter and accompanying press release.

Members of the Learning First Alliance signing on to the letter are:

• American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
• American Association of School Administrators
• American Association of School Personnel Administrators
• American School Counselor Association
• Association of School Business Officials International
• International Society for Technology in Education
• Learning Forward (formerly National Staff Development Council)
• National Association of Elementary School Principals
• National Association of Secondary School Principals
• National Association of State Boards of Education
• National Education Association
• National Middle School Association
• National School Public Relations Association
• National PTA
• National School Boards Association
• Phi Delta Kappa International