In the news:
Originally published Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7:11 PM
10 states gain waivers from 'No Child Left Behind' law
Some questioned if schools would be getting a pass on aggressively helping poor and minority children, those the No Child Left Behind law was primarily designed to help.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Obama freed 10 states from provisions of the No Child Left Behind education-testing law after they proposed alternative ways to hold schools accountable for student achievement.
While many educators and many governors celebrated, congressional Republicans accused Obama of executive overreach, and education and civil-rights groups questioned if schools would be getting a pass on aggressively helping poor and minority children, those the 2002 law was primarily designed to help.
The first 10 states to be declared free from the education law are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval. Twenty-eight other states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have signaled that they, too, plan to flee the law in favor of their own plans.
The government's action on Thursday was a tacit acknowledgment that the law's main goal, getting all students up to speed in reading and math by 2014, is not within reach.
The states excused from following the law no longer have to meet that deadline. Instead, they had to put forward plans showing they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, reward the best-performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.
Obama said he was acting because Congress had failed to update the law despite widespread agreement it needed to be fixed. "We've offered every state the same deal," he said. "If you're willing to set higher, more honest standards than the ones that were set by No Child Left Behind, then we're going to give you the flexibility to meet those standards."
No Child Left Behind was one of President George W. Bush's most touted domestic accomplishments and was passed with widespread bipartisan support. It has been up for renewal since 2007.
The law requires annual testing, and districts were forced to keep a closer eye on how students of all races were performing, not just relying on collective averages. Schools that didn't meet requirements for two years or longer faced increasingly harsh consequences, including busing children to higher-performing schools, offering tutoring and replacing staff.
Over the years, the law became increasingly unpopular. Teachers and parents complained it led to "teaching to the test."
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said states without waivers will be held to the standards of No Child Left Behind because, "It's the law of the land."
Material from Bloomberg News is included in this report.
