(ANCHORAGE) - In a community forum recently held at Bayshore Elementary School Rep. Lesil McGuire (R-Anchorage) met with concerned parents, and teachers as well as state and local officials in an overview of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Rep. McGuire presided over the forum, with a panel of guests including Carol Comeau, Anchorage School District Superintendent; Jake Metcalf, Anchorage School Board President; Rich Kronberg, National Education Association Alaska President and Alaska State Commissioner of Education and Early Development, Roger Sampson, answering questions and giving basic information on the NCLB.

New federal requirements for accountability in the NCLB legislation mandate that all students in grades 3 through 10 meet state academic achievements standards for language arts and mathematics by 2014.

Districts and schools in Alaska must demonstrate "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) toward meeting that goal. AYP is the minimum level of improvement that school districts and schools must achieve each year as determined under the NCLB.

"Alaska's AYP is based on certain factors such as the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards in language arts and math and testing participation rates for all schools and districts requiring that student groups must have at least 95 percent of their students take the designated state tests," explained Rep. McGuire.

"Some of the main concerns that I have with NCLB are that federal funds for this act are not enough to meet the goals for our school districts set by Congress and that special education students who do not work on the same level as their peers are expected to achieve on the same levels as regular education students," stated McGuire. "These are just a couple of concerns, there are many more."

"Everyone is concerned about our children's education. There are many issues about the NCLB that should be debated for change in this particular piece of legislation. Making positive changes will only serve to strengthen the Congressional intent that was articulated when NCLB was passed," expressed Rep. McGuire.

# # #