SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 1

         A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,  Urging the Congress of the United States to support the changes to the No Child Left Behind Act that were recommended by the special task force established by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

     WHEREAS,  the National Conference of State Legislatures created a special task force that spent ten months conducting an exhaustive, comprehensive, and bipartisan review of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB); and

     WHEREAS,  that review identified a number of changes that must be made in order to make NCLB a positive force for school improvement and to guarantee that young people will learn at their full potential; and

     WHEREAS,  the task force brought forth forty-three recommendations that provide a comprehensive guide to those necessary changes, many of which could be easily incorporated into the act and provide useful, workable requirements for schools; and

     WHEREAS,  the four key recommendations include removing obstacles that prevent state education innovations and undermine programs that were working prior to the passage of NCLB; fully funding the act and providing states with the financial help to meet NCLB's goals in the classroom; removing the "one-size-fits-all" student performance measurements and encouraging more sophisticated systems that will measure individual student progress; and recognizing that schools face special challenges and that significant differences exist between rural schools and urban schools:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,  by the Senate of the Eighty-first Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature strongly urges the Congress of the United States to support the worthwhile recommendations to revise the No Child Left Behind Act brought forth by the special task force of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

    

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Adopted by the Senate,

Concurred in by the House of Representatives,

Dennis Daugaard President of the Senate	Patricia Adam Secretary of the Senate
Matthew Michels Speaker of the House	Karen Gerdes Chief Clerk of the House