Alaska News

Partial waiver of No Child Left Behind Act granted to Alaska

Alaska has been granted a one-year waiver from the Federal Department of Education for one of the requirements created by the No Child Left Behind Act, APRN reports.

The state will be allowed to freeze its student proficiency targets for math and English, as long as it commits to a larger package of waivers by early September.

The targets will hold steady at last year's rate, with requirements that eighty-three percent of students be proficient in English, and seventy-five percent of students be proficient in math.

Eric Fry, public information officer with the Department of Education and Early Development, told APRN that the target freeze will be effective immediately.

The state is putting together its own accountability system that it plans to submit for federal approval. Under the system, local school districts and individual schools would use a different method and have different consequences for student failure, but would still be responsible for student progress.

Rep. Bob Miller of Fairbanks released a statement calling the decision "an encouraging step in Alaskans maintaining local control of our schools." His website calls the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act "increasingly unrealistic."

The waiver must be accepted by the state Board of Education on July 24th. Alaska is joining a plethora of other states that will be exempted from many requirements of No Child Left Behind.

Read more, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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