Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is requesting the U.S. Department of Education ensure flexibility for small schools in the implementation of a rule in the No Child Left Behind Act that affects the assessment of students with disabilities.

In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of Education Rod Paige, Enzi encouraged the Department of Education to monitor how the one percent rule is implemented. The one percent rule allows states to give students with disabilities an alternate assessment for determining adequate yearly progress. The rule limits the number of disabled students that can take an alternate assessment to one percent of the state's total student population.

"I am concerned that in small classrooms like these the one percent rule may not have the intended effect of providing sufficient flexibility for the local school, the district, or state administrators to accommodate the needs of disabled students who are not performing at grade level," wrote Enzi.

Enzi is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and a co-founder of the Rural Education Caucus.

Enzi's letter to Paige follows.

February 25, 2004

The Honorable Rod Paige
Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Mr. Secretary:

As a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions I worked closely with the Administration to pass the No Child Left Behind Act over two years ago. I am pleased that this law is already having a positive impact on students in our public schools, as demonstrated by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in student math scores released last year.

Now that the Department has released its final rule regarding the assessment of students with disabilities, I am writing to strongly encourage the Department of Education to carefully evaluate and monitor how the "one percent" rule is implemented.

I understand and fully support your commitment to ensuring that every child is guaranteed the opportunity to reach his or her potential, which I believe to be the principle on which the No Child Left Behind Act is based. I am concerned, however, that many rural schools with small populations of disabled students may not be able to take full advantage of the flexibility in the regulation. In Wyoming, many of the classes of students with disabilities being assessed have fewer than 10 students. I am concerned that in small classrooms like these the one percent rule may not have the intended effect of providing sufficient flexibility for the local school, the district, or state administrators to accommodate the needs of disabled students who are not performing at grade level.

In fact, such small classrooms – in addition to making the adequate yearly progress standard more difficult to meet than in larger classrooms – may negate any additional flexibility available to the school under the one percent rule. If more than one student in these small classrooms should take an alternate assessment, the school must apply for an exemption to the one percent rule. As you can imagine, in a state like Wyoming, a small population of students with disabilities can have a much larger effect on the ability of schools to meet state standards.

Mr. Secretary, I respectfully request that the Department track the impact of the implementation of this regulation as it relates to the following issues:

1. Adequacy in meeting the need of schools to assess students with disabilities appropriately;

2. Guaranteeing accountability for students with disabilities; and,

3. Permitting states to exceed the one percent limitation when necessary, particularly in rural states.

I believe that every student in public school should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. I also believe that the flexibility Congress included in the No Child Left Behind Act should be preserved as much as possible, without excusing schools or students from meeting standards. My request is that the regulations be administered in a way that provides rural schools and districts with the same flexibility as their larger urban counterparts.

Sincerely,

Michael B. Enzi
United States Senator