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AEP Online |
States Beginning to See Spelling's "Common Sense" Approach to Enforcing NCLBEarly this year, states' unrest with NCLB requirements reached a boiling point. Among other developments, Utah passed a bill in direct defiance of the federal education act and the National Education Association filed suit against U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings over provisions in NCLB. Seemingly in response to this uprising, Secretary Spellings announced the Education Department's plans for a new "common sense" approach to NCLB implementation. Four months later, some states are beginning to get a glimpse of what this new approach looks like. Virginia, for example, got the go ahead to revise the state's 2004-05 pass rates for reading and math; instead of a pass rate of 70 percent in both, students now must earn at least 63 percent in math and 65 percent in reading. However, changing the pass rates is only one of 14 exemptions the state requested, and--as of Monday--the only one that had been approved. Texas is another state that has recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education (USED). The long-standing dispute over testing of special education students was resolved last week, when USED agreed to allow the state to test 5 percent of its enrollment with the State Developed Alternative Assessment, up from the 1 percent figure originally put in place. The past two years, hundreds of Texas school districts were found out of compliance for allowing between 8 and 9 percent of students to take the alternative exams. Both cases indicate that USED is willing to compromise, but has ultimately taken a "bend but don't break" approach.
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
"NCLB
in the News" "Va.
Gets OK for lower math, English pass rates" "State
reaches testing deal for special ed"
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