No Child Left Behind Waivers Announced
In a move that could give Illinois more flexibility over how it holds schools accountable, the Obama administration announced Thursday that it will waive key portions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act for states that commit to certain reform efforts.
In recent years, state superintendents, educators and critics of the law have argued that it does not provide an adequate picture of a school’s success, relies too heavily on testing and sets an unrealistic goal by mandating that 100 percent of students meet basic skills requirements by 2014.
“This is not a step back from accountability,” a senior official at the U.S. Department of Education said. “Our role is to simply get out of the way as best we can.”
Under No Child Left Behind, states are required to test students in certain grades on basic math and reading
