10 States Are Given Waivers From Education Law

The No Child Left Behind Act was put in place in 2001 and had a goal that by 2014 all American students would be proficient in math and reading. Over the years many have said that this goal is unrealistic. Recently, President Obama granted waivers to ten states, freeing each state of many of the provisions of the NCLBA. New Jersey, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado, Minnesota and Oklahoma are the first ten to have received these waivers. These are states that have pledged to follow the president’s educational agenda that promotes teacher effectiveness.

Critics of the 2014 deadline believe it to be unrealistic especially for those students with disabilities. Other criticisms of the act are that it encourages teachers to teach based on the state examinations. While that may be the best may to perform well on the exams, it is not necessarily the best teaching methodology. President Obama understands that the motives behind the act were the right ones but also said, “we’ve got to do it in a way that doesn’t force teachers to teach to the test, or encourage schools to lower their standards to avoid being labeled as failures.” The purpose of the waivers is to allow the individual states time to devise their own educational goals for the future. Many have already taken the initiative such as Florida aiming to rank in the top five nationwide for state test scores and Massachusetts trying to reduce the number of underperforming students by half in the next six years.

These waivers and any adjustments made to the act will be pertinent to my research. I will be examining nationwide graduation rates, but I also need to look at things from the state level. The act requires each state to have its own series of examinations and that adequate yearly progress is achieved. Some states may be following the guidelines of the act more than others.