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Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Sep 17, 2007
Improving Student Testing Act of 2007 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow states to use academic indicators other than statewide standardized assessments in determining whether schools need improvement, corrective action, or restructuring. (Currently, such indicators may not be used to reduce the number of schools requiring such interventions.)
Permits states to use growth or hybrid growth and status models in determining whether students are making adequate progress toward state standards. Requires growth models and the growth portion of hybrid models to: (1) use statewide education data systems capable of tracking individual student growth; and (2) assess students annually in grades 3 through 8, and once in grades 9 through 12.
Allows states to alter their current assessment systems by: (1) conducting statewide assessments less frequently, but at least once in grades 3 through 5, 6 through 9, and 10 through 12; or (2) using multiple measures of assessments instead of, or in addition to, statewide standardized assessments.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award grants to states to implement certain privacy protection measures for statewide education data systems.
Waives the requirement that all students meet state academic proficiency standards by the end of the 2013-2014 school year if, for each of FY2008-FY2015, school improvement funds appropriated do not match those authorized.
Makes changes to the state education improvement plan peer review process that involve the composition of peer review panels, the feedback they provide, and the consistency of their decisions from state to state.
Requires states to disaggregate high school graduation rates by student subgroups. Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to states to disaggregate and report student graduation and performance data.
Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive grants to: (1) states to develop multiple measures of assessment, rather than one standardized test; and (2) states and local educational agencies to improve their capacity to implement alternative accountability and assessment systems and meet school improvement requirements.
Directs the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce to eliminate federal spending on trade promotion activities by imposing fees on promotion beneficiaries.
People & committees
Sen. Feingold, Russell D. [D-WI] · D–WI
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S11589-11592)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Dec 1, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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