States get more control over testing under new education law

This week, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act — a rewrite of No Child Left Behind.

“I don’t understand the euphoria that’s going on in Washington”, said William Mathis, a member of the State Board of Education who is chairman of its education quality review subcommittee.

The main difference this program brings is it will cut back on high school testing to only once before graduation.

Reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act ushers in a new day in Kentucky and across the nation, Commissioner Stephen Pruitt told the Kentucky Board of Education at its meeting today. In Mississippi, after a fight in November over the education funding-formula at the polls and a new study reminding Mississippi that the state paid more per pupil in 2008 than now (15.4 percent more), state legislators, teachers, advocates and students will have to come together to implement and pave the way for Mississippi students to get the best education possible. Districts must then issue a public report documenting the outcomes, broken down according to race, income, ethnicity and disability. “We have more work to do and more opportunities to deliver real results for the American people”.

The new law turns more decision-making powers back to the states. Young said the rating is part of the Texas accountability system, and not the federal government’s.

“Given the long history of state and local decisions that shortchange vulnerable students, this degree of flexibility is cause for serious trepidation”, she said in a statement.

Juneau said, “It also doesn’t just on that single test score”. But he said that will have no bearing in Vermont, which has refused to apply for the federal waivers under NCLB, which tied test scores to teacher evaluations.