A Stop on the Road to ESEA Reauthorization
Yesterday President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 10 states have been awarded waivers that provide flexibility from some of the main provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), including the 2014 deadline for 100% of students to reach proficiency in reading and math and the requirement that 20% of Title I funds be set aside for public school choice and supplemental educational services.
To receive a wavier, states had to agree to implement college and career-ready standards and to reform teacher and principal development, evaluation and support systems. They had to set new performance targets for improving student achievement and develop accountability systems that recognize and reward high-performing schools, provide “rigorous and comprehensive” interventions in the lowest-performing schools, and improve educational outcomes for underperforming subgroups of students.
