A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
No Child Left Behind Waivers
In September 2011, the Obama administration announced that it will waive certain requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, including the 2014 deadline that all students be proficient in math and language arts. In exchange, the administration will require states to adopt college- and career-ready students, focus attention on their lowest-performing schools and create guidelines for teacher evaluations based in part of student performance. See EdWeek's Politics K12 blog for more details.
On February 9, 2012, the Obama administration announced the first ten recipients of these waivers. A number of LFA members issued responses, including:
States and state boards of education are at the fore of innovation in education as they continue to develop and improve policies to help every student become college- or career-ready. It is heartening to see the Administration recognizes this hard work by starting to relieve states of the burden imposed on them by a law that set out worthy but perhaps unrealistic goals.
However, make no mistake that while we are pleased that waivers were granted for these 10 states, what we need is a comprehensive new iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. State boards are constantly looking for new and better ways to improve the way education is delivered in their states. Right now, many facets of NCLB just get in the way of these critical efforts.
We trust in the equity and transparency of waiver award decisions, and believe that any state whose application was denied should receive the assistance necessary to meet the requirements laid out in the waiver process. See the statement...
“We’re encouraged by President Obama’s and Secretary Duncan’s efforts to provide NCLB waivers for relief,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “These states have committed to working with teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders to implement changes designed to better support students. Our members look forward to being part of a true partnership with school and community leaders to think creatively about how to help all students thrive with this new flexibility.”
“But this is only a stopgap measure. We will continue to work with Congress on a comprehensive bill that works for students and reflects the important federal role of ensuring equity while working with states and local school districts to support the public education system,” said Van Roekel. “Any ESEA reauthorization bill must ensure that all students have access to quality early education, well-rounded instruction, a safe and supportive learning environment, and access to qualified, caring, and committed teachers. As a nation, we must do more to implement a new vision of public education that helps all students succeed." Read more...
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is encouraged by President Barack Obama’s announcement today to waive problematic and burdensome regulatory requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) from ten states, but cautions that this is not enough and is encouraging Congress to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary School Education Act (ESEA).
“The NCLB waiver program will give ten states additional flexibility but also imposes new conditions and program criteria on states and school districts requiring them to engage in activities that do not necessarily improve student achievement.” said Anne L. Bryant, NSBA’s Executive Director, who was at the White House for today’s announcement. “The waiver process should not be viewed as an acceptable substitute for ESEA reauthorization, as all U.S. school districts must be free of unnecessary or counterproductive federal mandates that hinder our goals of increasing student achievement." Read more...
Initial Responses to the Waiver Plan
A number of Learning First Alliance member organizations issued responses to the waiver plan, including:
For several years now AASA has, on behalf of our members, been urging the Obama administration to provide our school districts with regulatory relief from the provisions of No Child Left Behind. The administration had refused to do so on the grounds that they were hoping that ESEA would be reauthorized. So were we, and we would still prefer the reauthorization of ESEA. Unfortunately, it has become readily apparent that a divided Congress is not about to reach agreement on a new ESEA bill in a timely manner. Schools need relief this academic school year as NCLB punishments ramp ever higher.
The Obama flexibility plan released today will provide waivers to states that apply for them with assurances that they will meet certain conditions. We are pleased with the plan’s intent to relieve districts from these regulations. However, we continue to object to a waiver process that requires the meeting of specific conditions. Read more...
No Child Left Behind needs to be fixed. Reauthorization, which is Congress' responsibility, is the appropriate avenue to do so. We applaud Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) for their efforts to move that process forward, and we share their frustration that reauthorization is long overdue. In the absence of congressional reauthorization, we understand why the Obama administration is taking this action; we are keenly aware of the calls from parents, teachers and administrators for change—sooner rather than later. Waivers are an imperfect answer to the stalemate in Congress and, at best, can provide only a temporary salve.
Some of what the administration proposes is promising, some is cause for concern, and there are missed opportunities that could have enhanced both teaching and learning. Read more...
- From their blog: Learning Forward's Center for Results
Last Friday, President Obama unveiled his plan to give states flexibility in implementing portions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). He emphasized that the U.S. Department of Education will only entertain states' requests for relief from NCLB's requirements if they include bold and innovative reforms that would result in deeper learning and increased achievement for students. Among the provisions from which states may seek relief is the highly qualified teacher requirements. In exchange for this relief, states "must commit to develop, adopt, pilot and implement... teacher and principal evaluation and support systems."
According to the rules of the president's waiver program, the teacher and principal evaluation and support systems will support continuous improvements in teaching, differentiate performance among teachers, guide professional development, and inform personnel decisions. I am pleased that the department's description of the teacher and principal evaluation system leads with the statement that the system "will be used for continual improvement of instruction." The description also notes that the evaluation system should "provide clear, timely, and useful feedback, including feedback that identifies needs and guides professional development." Read more...
““Principals live firsthand with the issues created by the ‘one-size-fits-all’ accountability system of NCLB and applaud the Administration for providing greater state, local and practitioner input into measures of student achievement,” said Connelly. “The shift in policy for principals in a school turnaround situation is also commendable. Principals will now have the opportunity to be fairly evaluated using the local system in place, rather than be arbitrarily dismissed because of a federal mandate that disregards improved student achievement over time.”
NAESP also noted a section of the waiver package which calls on states and local districts to develop rigorous teacher and principal evaluation systems by the end of the current school year with input from teachers and principals and standards based on multiple performance measures. Read more...
While we are disappointed that NCLB relief is coming in the form of waivers rather than regulatory relief, the nation's principals are breathing a bit easier knowing that the law's most onerous and unreasonable provisions might weigh less heavily during the next few years while Congress considers the law's reauthorization. We applaud the Obama administration for its substantive response to a concern shared by principals nationwide.
If the waivers have to come with new provisions to replace the old, at least these are provisions we can endorse. NASSP was one of the early voices calling for common national standards and assessments in literacy and math, and we are encouraged by the reception the Common Core State Standards have received from states. The moral imperative of college and career readiness permeates the standards, yet many principals are unable to lead a transition to the new standards while they are handcuffed by AYP. We are looking forward to the accelerated implementation of college and career ready standards that the waivers will promote and we are committed to providing school leaders guidance during that implementation. Read more...
The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) welcomed the Administration’s announcement it will waive key requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but also repeated its call for comprehensive reform through legislation passed by Congress.
NASBE Executive Director Brenda Welburn, in attendance at the White House announcement Friday with student members from the District of Columbia and Maryland state boards of education, said the waivers offer flexibility for states that find themselves constrained by unrealistic mandates in the NCLB iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Read more...
“President Obama has taken a welcome step forward with this plan. It sets much more realistic goals for schools, while maintaining ESEA’s original commitment to civil rights, high academic standards and success for every student,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.
“Teachers have been sounding the alarm on NCLB’s test-label-punish approach for more than 10 years. Now, there is an opportunity to move forward with real reform, especially for the most disadvantaged students,” said Van Roekel. Read more...
“No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is broken,” said National PTA President, Betsy Landers. “PTA continues to call on Congress to fix the law through the reauthorization process, and we applaud the Administration’s efforts to provide much-needed flexibility and temporary relief to states while that process is stalled. The flexibility package outlined by President Obama and Secretary Duncan will allow administrators to focus on the local and unique needs of our most troubled schools, support parents and families with meaningful accountability, and provide students with richer curricula.”
“National PTA believes this package promotes true partnership and collaborative decision-making in education reform; encouraging states and districts to engage with all stakeholders, including parents, in developing state plans and turning around failing schools,” said Landers. Read more...
"The proposed NCLB regulatory relief plan is a positive step as it could provide much needed assistance to local school district efforts to improve student achievement,” said Anne L. Bryant, NSBA’s Executive Director. “However, the effectiveness of the plan will depend upon the details of the application requirements, the specific locally needed relief states ask for, and whether the merit of a state’s application is judged adequate by the U.S. Department of Education to receive the relief that it asks for.”
Michael A. Resnick, NSBA’s Associate Executive Director for Federal Advocacy and Public Policy, noted, “NSBA believes that federal requirements that are educationally, financially, or operationally counter-productive at the school house level should be eliminated as a matter of policy not as a condition for states qualifying to meet new conditions. We encourage the U.S. Department of Education to provide local relief along those lines should its state-based approach fall short of the local relief needed.” Read more...
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