A bus driver prepares to pull out of the parking lot at Ooltewah Middle School after picking up students.ATLANTA – States seeking to waive basic requirements of the No Child Left Behind law are pushing their plans to maintain student and teacher accountability.
Georgia and Kentucky school officials said during a call Friday with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan that they want schools to be graded on multiple criteria, not just standardized test scores.
“We remain absolutely committed to accountability, and there will be a high bar for states looking for flexibility,” Duncan said.
Georgia’s plan involves an index score that in addition to test results would measure progress from year to year, efforts at closing the achievement gap, graduation rates and student attendance. School Superintendent John Barge said that’s a commonsense approach.
“It doesn’t matter what ideologies are,” Barge said. “It’s education, and what’s best for the children.”
Kentucky’s plan is similar to Georgia’s.
Kentucky Commissioner of Education Terry Holliday said the promise of No Child Left Behind can be kept while at the same time scrapping outdated requirements that force educators and students to focus more attention on test scores and not enough attention on preparing students for college and careers.
President Barack Obama wants to exempt states from some of the law’s requirements if they impose standards to prepare students for college and careers and set evaluation standards for teachers and principals.
The flexibility will begin to have an impact during the 2011-2012 school year and will have increasing impact in subsequent years.