The federal government will soon allow states to apply for waivers from some of the basic requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law. State Superintendent Tony Evers says that’s good news for Wisconsin because it “opens a route out of the broken accountability system” of NCLB. Evers says it also frees up the state to design its own accountability system that will make sure more students graduate who are college and career ready.
President Obama’s proposal allows states to design their own plans to improve school performance, rather than trying to meet a requirement that all students pass state tests by 2014. Evers says education leaders are already working on a new system to accomplish that and he hopes portions of it will be ready to be implemented later this year in all publicly funded schools.
Educations officials have long argued No Child Left Behind sets unrealistic standards for schools and pushes them to “teach to the test” instead of trying to improve.
Evers says Wisconsin is ready to move past that and the state will apply for a waiver as soon as it can
