Education law

Presidential waivers freeing 10 states from the onerous provisions of the No Child Left Behind law will allow states and school districts wider latitude in assessing student progress that factors in more than student performance on a single set of tests.

President Obama opened the door to waivers in the face of congressional inaction on reform of the 2002 law that has been up for renewal since 2007. The law set a goal of having every student be proficient in reading and math by 2014, but that has proven unrealistic with nearly 48 percent of schools nationwide designated failures last year based on how students performed on the tests given once a year to students in grades three through eight.

The law required reporting by subgroups, such as race or students with disabilities, and schools could be labeled failures if just one group fell short of the standard.

Educators had complained about the narrow focus of the law on two tests rather than include other means to measure overall student and school performance. President Obama’s waivers are in exchange for meeting other criteria.

States given waivers must develop their own plans to make sure all students are ready for college or careers and set new targets for improving performance of all students. They will also have to establish guidelines for evaluating teachers and principals. Schools can use college entrance exams, social studies, science and other subjects to measure student progress. No Child’s narrow focus on reading and math caused schools to emphasize those topics and “teach to the test” at the expense of other subjects or part of the total school curriculum.

Schools will still be required to focus on the subgroups to ensure they are not overlooked in the overall assessment.

The states attaining waivers are just the first. Another 28 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico plan to apply for waivers this month.

Some in Congress object to the waivers as unilateral executive action while Congress attempts to revise the law. However, Congress has had five years, but failed to reach agreement on reforming the law as the 2014 deadline approaches.

The waivers replace the one-size-fits-all approach with greater flexibility that recognizes what works in one state or district might not work in another.