No Child Left Behind sanctions no longer apply in Tennessee
Tennessee schools will no longer be penalized for failing to meet benchmarks under the federal No Child Left Behind Law.
By Julie HubbardFebruary 13, 2012
First Lady Chrissy Haslam and Gov. Bill Haslam read to third-graders at Scales Elementary School in Brentwood on Wednesday February 8, 2012. / Jeanne Reasonover/The Tennessean
President Barack Obama freed 10 states including Tennessee from free from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind law today.
Instead, the 10 states be held to a standard written by state education leaders. It recognizes progress made by schools educating large numbers of foreign-language speakers and impoverished students -- those most likely to face sanctions under No Child Left Behind.
Gov. Bill Haslam wasted no time telling the news to reporters at a noon meeting of the Tennessee Press Association.
"We had been sworn to secrecy by the President, but news got out," he said. "Tennessee will be one of the first states to be let out of No Child Left Behind."
Haslam said although the Volunteer State hasn't traditionally been thought of as a "hotbed of education reform" or culture of valuing education, the momentum for change began under former Governor Bredesen and came to fruition during his administration.
Over time, the federal law became one that was unrealistic to meet and demoralizing for schools and teachers, but Congress failed to rewrite it.
"We were making significant progress in so many classrooms...but it became demotivating," Haslam said.
The other nine states to receive the No Child Left Behind waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey and Oklahoma.
The decade-old No Child Left Behind law required, by 2014, that all students test on grade level in reading and math and that schools have a 100 percent graduation rate.
More than 70 percent of Metro Nashville public schools and half of Tennessee schools missed NCLB goals under that law last year.
The first 10 states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee, the White House announced this morning. The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval.
Source: Tennessean
Leave a Comment