Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12®

ESSA. Congress. State chiefs. School spending. Elections. Education Week reporters keep watch on education policy and politics in the nation’s capital and in the states. Read more from this blog.

Federal

Colorado’s NCLB Waiver Extended by Education Department

By Andrew Ujifusa — November 20, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The U.S. Department of Education has extended Colorado’s waiver from some of the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, the department announced Friday. The waiver extension is for one year.

In its announcement, the Education Department noted Colorado’s progress in creating an accountability system that gives one of four performance ratings to individual schools, and one of five accreditation ratings to districts. It also highlights the state’s work in creating a state model for teacher evaluatoin.

The state’s original NCLB waiver was approved in 2012 for a two-year period.

“These renewals provide states with stability as they continue to work on preparing all students for success in college, careers, and life,” the department said in a statement.

Other states to obtain waivers recently include Louisiana (which was put on high-risk status) and Texas.

Not every state is so interested in pursuing these waivers any more, however. Earlier this month, for example, Nebraska pulled the plug on its quest for a waiver, and the state chief Matthew Blomstedt expressed confidence that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act would be reauthorized in the near future, rendering a waiver irrelevant.

Blomstedt’s prediction appears pretty close to being proven right. Members of a congressional conference committee approved an ESEA agreement on Thursday, and a vote on the House floor is slated for right after the Thanksgiving break.