Obama Offers Relief From ‘No Child’ Requirements In Exchange For Ed Reform
The Obama Administration that states will be eligible to seek relief from “key provisions” of the federal No Child Left Behind law if they commit to education reform.
No Child Left Behind is the infamous law behind annual state assessments and Adequate Yearly Progress reports. Those determine which schools meet annual requirements and which will be subject to complex area and state intervention. In Hawaii this year, 62 percent, or 177 public and public charter schools, did not meet the progress requirements.
The administration said it chose to offer waivers from some of the requirements because Congress has yet to finalize a bill reforming and reauthorizing No Child Left Behind.
“With no clear path to a bipartisan bill in Congress, the President has directed us to move forward with an administrative process to provide flexibility within the law for states and districts that are willing to embrace reform,” said Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House.
The administration says this is “not a pass on accountability” and states seeking flexibility will have to clear “a high bar.” States whose applications are rejected will still have to comply with the requirements until Congress passes a new law changing them.
The administration’s announcement, posted on the U.S. Department of Education’s , also sketches a brief outline of what type of education reforms states will be expected to embrace, with the promise to provide more detail in September.
The administration’s proposal for fixing NCLB calls for college- and career-ready standards, more great teachers and principals, robust use of data, and a more flexible and targeted accountability system based on measuring annual student growth. Barnes and Duncan will note that the final details on the ESEA flexibility package will reflect similar goals. The specifics of the package will be made public in September.
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