Big news is expected tomorrow from the Obama administration concerning No Child Left Behind. The President and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are schedule to provide details of their plans to waive some of the law’s toughest requirements–including the 100% proficiency by 2014 goal.
However, this relief provided to schools does not come free. If schools want to see the waiver, states have to adopt a few changes. There has been much speculation about what those changes could be, but they include:
- Expansion of Charter Schools
- Linking Teacher Evaluation to Student Performance
- Upgrading Academic Standards
While many in Congress may support the waivers, there are mixed feelings about the process by which the rewrite occurred. This is a unilateral move on the part of the President. He is literally rewriting the law without assistance from Congress. In his recent schools tour, Education Secretary Duncan stated:
“I feel compelled to do this. My absolute preference is for Congress to fix it for the entire country. But there’s a level of dysfunction in Congress that’s paralyzing. And we’re getting to a point that this law is holding back innovation, holding back progress. We need to unleash that. We need to get out of the way.”You can rest assured, if and when changes come, we’ll have a brief about it here.
University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy