President Obama To Sign New Education Bill Into Law

“It replaces a one-size-fits-all approach to reform”, Obama said.

In his remarks, Obama stated that No Child Left Behind had the right intentions, but in practice often fell short. “Now we won’t have to submit a waiver to do good things for kids”, he said.

In general, the legislation transfers many educational decision-making powers from the federal government back to state and local governments and addresses issues such as accountability and testing requirements, distribution and requirements for grants, fiscal accountability requirements and the evaluation of teachers. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Senate Republican negotiator of the bill. Obama help it up as an “example of how bipartisanship should work”, noting that opposing sides had compromised to reach a deal.

“But of course, now the hard work begins”.

“It moves the responsibility for and the flexibility back to the state school boards, parents, teachers”, said Capito. And it requires states to step in if a school falls into the bottom 5%, graduated less than 67% of students, or if subgroups are persistently falling behind.

Under ESSA some tests remain: 3rd through 8th graders test in Reading and Math and once in high school.

“With this bill, we reaffirm that fundamentally American ideal that every child, regardless of race, income background, the zip code where they live, deserves the chance to make out of their lives what they want”, he said.

Under the new law, students in third through eighth grade would still be required to participate in annual statewide testing.

For Texas students, that could mean less fear and worry over their standardized testing each year, a state assessment called the STAAR test.

Under the new education act, states can now set their own goals and accountability standards and interventions for failing schools.

No more Common Core – maybe. “It puts control of Louisiana’s schools and its children in the hands of our communities here in our state and at the same time it holds high expectations”. States can design more sensible systems that align with standards. In elementary and middle schools, those could include student engagement, educator engagement, advanced coursework access and completion, or other factors that would be determined by individual states.

In a media release, KNEA President Mark Farr said, “The dedicated professionals working in Kansas public schools continue to push for what’s best for all students”.