Ten States to Get NCLB Flexibility

Ten States to Get NCLB Flexibility

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced last week that 10 states will take part in a pilot program to allow greater flexibility for rating schools under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).”

Under the “differentiated consequences” pilot, states could vary the types of sanctions based on the degree that schools missed performance goals. For example, a school missing a single achievement target might suffer sanctions that are less severe than a school that missed several goals. States that want to apply for the pilot program must do so by May 2.

NCLB requires schools to pass more than 40 achievement measures, as the school’s students are divided into subgroups based on race, income and special-education status, and must meet annual goals in math and reading. This has led to many schools being labeled as not meeting standards because a single subgroup did not meet performance measures.

Anne L. Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, said NCLB’s “current one-size-fits-all approach fails to recognize the unique needs of individual students or schools, and fails to provide adequate flexibility to states and local school districts. While the announcement is a step in the right direction, it is not a substitute for the immediate need for reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.”