"Vast Majority" Of States Seeking NCLB Waivers

Education Week (3/8, McNeil) reports that the addition of the 26 new states (and the District of Columbia) seeking No Child Left Behind waivers to the 11 that have already been granted waivers "means the vast majority of states are on pace to be free from many of the fundamental requirements of the decade-old federal accountability law." The piece notes that the states which have already been granted waivers promised "to implement specific policy changes backed by President Barack Obama's administration, including tying teacher evaluations to student performance, adopting college- and career-readiness standards, and devising new accountability systems that factor in student growth. ... 'The best ideas to meet the needs of individual students are going to come from the local level,' US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a statement Feb. 29, a day after second-round applications were due."