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Friday, July 6, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Washington State gets NCLB Waiver

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Washington State gets NCLB Waiver:


Washington State gets NCLB Waiver

From Ed Week and the NY Times comes word that Washington State, along with Wisconsin, have been granted waivers from some of the most "onerous conditions" of NCLB.

That brings the total number of states with waivers up to 26.   That's more than half the states and Andy Porter, the dean of U of Penn Graduate School of Education asks, "The more waivers there are, the less there really is a law, right?"

From the Times:

In exchange for the education waivers, schools and districts must promise to set new targets aimed at preparing students for colleges and careers. They must also tether evaluations of teachers and schools in part to student achievement on standardized tests.

The administration said all schools would be required to show yearly improvement.  

Instead of labeling all struggling schools as failing, the waivers direct states to focus most attention on the