Nevada Granted Waiver From Federal Education Requirements In Exchange For New Accountability Measures
CARSON CITY – The U.S. Department of Education today approved Nevada’s request for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act in exchange for state-developed accountability measures.
Nevada’s accountability plan is designed to prepare all students for college and career readiness, substantially raise the achievement of the lowest achieving students, and support effective teaching and administration.
Nevada’s state-developed plan creates the Nevada School Performance Framework, a new system for classifying, rewarding, and supporting school performance. In addition to looking at student proficiency, Nevada will now be able to analyze and use student growth data and other measures in determining school and district success.
“This next generation accountability system is a central lever in statewide efforts to substantially elevate student performance,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction James Guthrie. “This system was built through robust collaboration with key partners, together with whom we will re-engineer Nevada’s educational system to realize true college and career readiness for all students.”
Gov. Brian Sandoval said: “Today is a new day for education in Nevada. Nevada’s ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) Waiver creates an accountability system that improves student achievement and reflects Nevada’s education values and goals. I congratulate and thank the Nevada Department of Education for working with stakeholders to ensure we put Nevada’s children first.”
In order to obtain a waiver, states were required to meet certain conditions including adoption of the Common Core State Standards, which Nevada had adopted in June 2010, as well as the creation of a statewide system for evaluating teacher and administrator performance that relies in part on student achievement data. Nevada passed such legislation in June 2011.
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia are now approved for waivers from the act in exchange for new accountability measures.
“Nevada joins the growing number of states who can’t wait any longer for education reform, and we’re thrilled that more than 1 million new students will now be protected under these 34 flexibility plans,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We still remain hopeful that Congress will come together to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, but we know states need this relief now.”
President Obama announced in September of 2011 that his administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012. Four additional requests are still under review, and there is still time for other states to apply. States have until Sept. 6 to apply for the next round of waivers.
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