SALEM, Ore. – Oregon has joined Washington and 31 other states in getting a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that it's approved Oregon's request for more flexibility.
Oregon education officials say part of the aim is to shift away from penalizing schools for failing to meet rigid benchmarks.
Ben Cannon is Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber’s the education policy advisor. He says the green light from the feds ends a period of uncertainty for school districts.
"We were confident enough that we would get to this point with the U.S. Department of Education that we were advising districts to plan for this date even while they sort of had to keep a separate track open under the possibility that we wouldn't get a waiver," Cannon said.
Washington state received its waiver last week. Idaho is still waiting to hear back from the Department of Education on its request for more flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Law. Thirteen states have not filed a waiver request.
On the Web:
No Child Left Behind flexibilityoverview:
http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
Copyright 2012 Northwest News Network
