There is an education god! According to Politico:
Seeing “no clear path” toward reauthorizing the “No Child Left Behind” education law, the Obama administration will unilaterally issue waivers to states, exempting them from some of the law’s regulations.
“Today we’re less than a month from the start of the school year, and…we still believe there is no clear path toward a bipartisan bill to reform “No Child Left Behind,” said White House domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes in a conference call with reporters, the contents of which were embargoed until Monday.
“Our administration has been working on plans to provide more flexibility. The president has directed us to proceed with those plans.”
Months ago President Obama called on Congress to address the issue of correcting some of the flaws of NCLB that is about a decade old. Congress apparently went off in different directions and produced nothing. The president decided to issue waivers to exempt states from having to comply with many of the laws regulations that were particularly burdensome. Every child, teacher, and administrator is probably collectively cheering the decision. NCLB, while sounding good on paper, created upheaval in schools and required that unachievable goals be reached by students, teachers and schools.
On paper the legislation sounds pretty good. After all, who wants to leave children behind. In practicality is it dreadful. The goals are unrealistic and often unachievable. Schools must go through all sorts of expense and gyrations to document what they are doing to meet the unachievable goals, causing burn out across the board. NCLB is too much bureaucracy into local affairs. It needs a burial at sea so kids can get back to learning.
