Columbus Dispatch...
Ohio might seek No Child Left Behind waiver
Obama plans to scrap rules on aid for tutors, transfers
by Jennifer Smith Richards 

The federal government will offer states the chance to set aside major sections of the No Child Left Behind Act, including the requirement that all students become proficient in math and reading by 2014. 

Strict rules that require money for poor students in so-called failing schools to be spent on tutoring or transfers to better schools also could be scrapped under the waiver rules to be announced today by President Barack Obama. 

In fact, the idea that a school could be labeled as failing if even a small segment of its student population isn’t improving quickly enough could be wiped away by using the waiver process. 

Senior administration officials have offered some details of the waiver process, which is meant to circumvent Congress’ efforts to rewrite the sweeping federal education law. Lawmakers have been working on that for four years. 

Ohio has said it will consider applying for a waiver; state education officials plan to go to Washington, D.C., next week to learn more about how waivers will work. 

Any state that seeks a waiver would have to agree to enact tougher standards, focus on struggling schools and scrutinize educator performance. 

“The purpose is not to give states a reprieve from accountability, but rather to unleash energy to improve our schools on the local level even as we work to improve the law,” a senior administration official said yesterday. 

Removing the failing-school label also will remove pressure for schools to “teach to the test,” the official said. 

Under No Child Left Behind, states were required to set annual targets that would propel all students to proficiency by 2014. Schools that don’t meet those passing-rate targets, called “ adequate yearly progress” goals, can be forced to offer tutoring and to allow students to transfer to schools with better academic standing. Those that miss the passing-rate goal year after year can be forced to overhaul. 

In Ohio, failing to meet the progress goals can reduce a school or district’s overall report-card grade. 

Many states viewed the system as onerous and overly punitive, and they’ve been asking for changes for several years. Pleas for killing that section of the law have become louder as the 2014 deadline nears. 

“I applaud President (Barack) Obama and Secretary (of Education Arne) Duncan for giving schools the relief they so desperately need,” U.S. Rep. George Miller said in a news release. Miller, from California, is the senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee. 

“Schools and states should no longer be held back by the restricted, outdated burden of No Child Left Behind. It’s a law that is 10 years old and is simply not providing the support to help bring our schools to the future.” 

The Ohio Department of Education wouldn’t say yesterday what sections of the law it hopes to keep or seek waivers from. 

“Our schools need a new set of accountability tools to measure their progress. We are actively studying what waiver options may be available and how they could enhance Ohio’s efforts for transitioning to more-rigorous standards for learning,” said a written statement from State Superintendent Stan Heffner. 

The state is trying to revamp the federally required tutoring program, which investigations have found is fraught with problems and is vulnerable to fraud. 

Ohio already has some relief from the adequate yearly progress — or AYP — rules, and state officials’ warning that lots of schools would fall short of the federal progress goals this year didn’t come to fruition. 

The state received a waiver in 2007 that grants Ohio schools “met” status if they’re improving and on track to meet AYP goals soon. It’s called the “growth model” and gives schools and districts credit for improvement even when passing-rate goals aren’t met. 

On the report cards released in August, more than half of districts and about 60 percent of schools met the goals. That was due in large part to the growth-model waiver. 

States, by and large, are pleased at the prospect of more-relaxed No Child Left Behind rules. 

But some, including civil-rights groups, worry that allowing waivers could weaken the law’s focus on highlighting and closing the achievement gap between groups of students. No Child Left Behind requires states to report the performance of “subgroups” of students, including black, white, Hispanic, and special-needs students and those learning English as a second language. 

Without that detail, otherwise high-performing school districts often can mask their shortcomings with certain populations. 

That type of data is a worthwhile piece of the federal law because it helps schools improve achievement for populations at risk of failing, said Byron McCauley, spokesman for Cincinnati-based KnowledgeWorks. The nonprofit group oversees education initiatives in Ohio aimed at closing the achievement gap between black and white students. 

“We really support the disaggregation of data. We wouldn’t want that to be changed in the waivers or reauthorization of (the law). It’s an essential tool to ensure we’re able to improve student achievement for all students,” he said. 

The tradeoff for freedom from No Child Left Behind rules will be the promise to embrace reforms that are favored by Duncan and Obama. That includes increasing state standards, judging teacher and principal effectiveness, monitoring student growth and overhauling the lowest-performing schools. Ohio has committed to all of those, either through legislation or its acceptance of federal Race to the Top dollars that are tied to enacting those changes. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch