States apply for waivers to skirt rules as reform stalls

Despite a rise in test scores, 84 percent of Missouri’s schools failed to make “adequate yearly progress,” according to a report released by the state Thursday, the Huffington Post reports. Margie Vandeven, assistant commissioner with the Office of Quality Schools at Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, says she’s frustrated with No Child Left Behind, a law that uses an “all or nothing” measure to rate her state’s schools…

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More states defying federal gov’t on education law

Experts say many districts are feeling pressured to meet the standards to avoid penalties under the law.

At least three states are vowing to ignore the latest requirements under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law in an act of defiance against the federal government that demonstrates their growing frustration over an education program they say sets unrealistic benchmarks for schools.

The law sets a goal of having 100 percent of students proficient in math and reading by 2014, but states were allowed to establish how much schools must improve each year. Many states saved the biggest leaps for the final years, anticipating the law would be changed.

But it hasn’t, and states like Idaho, Montana and South Dakota are fed up. They are preparing to reject the latest requirements for determining school progress under the 9-year-old law–even if the move toward noncompliance may put them at risk of losing some federal funding.…Read More

Schools chiefs see a path to proposing their own accountability systems

Some state education chiefs say that if Congress does not overhaul No Child Left Behind, the main federal law governing public education, by the fall, they may be allowed to propose their own accountability systems as an alternative, reports the New York Times. These education chiefs said this week that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his aides have signaled that they may grant a waiver on a crucial provision in the law, a requirement that all children be proficient in English and math by 2014, a goal widely seen as unrealistic…

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Readers: Here’s how we’d change ESEA

"Even Diane Ravitch, one of NCLB's greatest champions, has reconsidered her position," said a reader.

With Education Secretary Arne Duncan warning Congress that he’ll take matters into his own hands if lawmakers this year fail to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left Behind, eSchool News recently asked readers: “What’s one change/revision/addition you’d like to see in ESEA?”

The nation’s education law is long overdue for a revision, and Duncan has called its current tangle of strict accountability measures “a slow-motion train wreck for schools,” noting that as many as 80 percent of schools could be labeled failures next year if the law isn’t changed.

Holding up the process in Congress is broad disagreement over how to revise ESEA in a way that is fair to schools, while still holding them accountable for student success. Here are the eight best suggestions we received from readers who are on the front lines of these issues, edited for brevity and presented in no particular order:…Read More

No education agenda left behind becomes Obama hurdle as congress deadlocks

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he pledged to “fix” the No Child Left Behind federal education law and to promote rigorous standards, merit pay and policies that made it easier to remove low-performing teachers, Bloomberg reports. As Obama–who sold himself as a politician who could forge bipartisan compromise–seeks re-election next year, Congressional gridlock has halted his plan to change No Child Left Behind. While more than 40 states have signed onto parts of the rest of his agenda, state budget cuts threaten to undermine districts’ efforts to carry it out…

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Education groups applaud new ed-tech legislation

A new bill advocates for wider technology access and use in education.

Educational technology stakeholders are applauding the U.S. Senate’s introduction of a bill called the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act and note that, if passed, the legislation will work to bolster technology literacy and will increase access to educational opportunities through online learning.

“The ATTAIN Act recognizes that technology literacy is an essential skill our children need to be college and career ready and prepared to navigate and succeed in the competitive 21st-century environment,” said 11 leading education and ed-tech organizations in a joint statement.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. The measure directs federal funds to train teachers, purchase educational technology hardware and software, and support student technological literacy.  It authorizes up to $1 billion in annual funding for educational technology and teacher training nationwide.…Read More

Alliance: Keep spending rules in place with NCLB fix

The U.S. Senate might take up a bill reauthorizing NCLB this summer.

As Congress works to update the No Child Left Behind Act, members of the nonprofit Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE) hold out hope that a bipartisan agreement will be reached this year. But they warn that more flexible spending measures proposed by some lawmakers could divert money intended to help students who are most in need.

“I think we have heard encouraging signs from the Senate that the bipartisan negotiations are continuing. We’ve heard staff members over the last few months have been meeting regularly to hammer out these last few points,” said Amanda Beaumont, director of federal advocacy for AEE, during a recent webinar focused on NCLB reauthorization.

Beaumont identified the efforts by many states to develop common assessments as one of many steps geared toward fixing problems with NCLB.…Read More

Obama says too much testing makes education boring

Obama said schools should be judged on criteria other than test scores, including attendance rate.

President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways than just exam results. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.

“Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools,” the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.

Obama, who is pushing a rewrite of the nation’s education law that would ease some of its rigid measurement tools, said policymakers should find a test that “everybody agrees makes sense” and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.…Read More

No Child Left Behind: Can Obama revamp the education law?

The Obama Administration is doubling down on its push to overhaul the federal No Child Left Behind Act, reports TIME. Last Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before Congress and aggressively urged action to revise the landmark and contentious education law that was passed in 2001. The President began this week with a speech at a northern Virginia middle school urging Congress to act and then spent part of Tuesday cutting several radio interviews prodding Capitol Hill even more. This isn’t the first time the Administration has implored Congress to change this law: it’s been a constant drumbeat since 2009 (the law was due to be “reauthorized,” Washingtonspeak for tuned up, in 2007 but Congress couldn’t agree on how to do it) and even during the 2008 campaign. Now, frustrated with the lack of action, Obama and Duncan are trying a new approach: scaring Congress into acting. Both Obama and Duncan are highlighting Department of Education estimates that more than 80% of schools will not meet performance targets this year if the law isn’t changed. One wag dubbed the new strategy a “fail wail.”

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FACT CHECK: Are 82 percent of schools ‘failing’?

President Barack Obama declared this week that four of five public schools could be labeled as “failing” this year under the No Child Left Behind Act if Congress does not take action to rewrite the law, the Associated Press reports. “That’s an astonishing number,” he said at a Virginia middle school. “We know that four out of five schools in this country aren’t failing.” Obama’s terminology wasn’t quite right, though. There is no “failing” label in the No Child Left Behind Act. And schools that do not meet growth targets — aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014 — for one year are not subject to any intervention. Those unable to do so for two or more consecutive years are considered “in need of improvement.” The consequences then become stiffer each year, starting with offering students an opportunity to attend another school, and escalating if the targets remain unmet…

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_education_fact_check

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