11 states seek relief from NCLB

The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that 11 states have formally submitted requests for waivers from key provisions of No Child Left Behind, the Huffington Post reports. Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee have submitted to the Education Department curriculums and plans catered to their localities in exchange for flexibility from federal education mandates. The submissions come after President Barack Obama’s September announcement that the administration would offer a “flexibility package” to states if they demonstrate a true commitment to reform, unleashing “energy to improve our schools at the local level.”

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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