Let States Reform Education, Don’t Let Them Set a Low Bar: View
In issuing waivers to states under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind), releasing them from a 2014 deadline for achieving 100 percent proficiency on standardized reading and math exams, President Barack Obama rightly chastised Congress for its failure to bring the law’s decade-old requirements up to date.
Unfortunately, neither the president nor Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has given Congress strong guidance on how to proceed.
In fending off the immediate crisis -- Duncan says more than 80 percent of schools would fail to achieve 100 percent proficiency by 2014 -- the administration risks allowing states off the hook