Virginia seeks federal waivers for No Child requirements

Virginia is seeking to free its public schools from the most rigid requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law.

The state Board of Education took an initial step Thursday by supporting its first review of a Virginia Department of Education application to the U.S. Department of Education.

The application requests relief from the law’s toughest requirements, including the 29 No Child benchmarks.

State Department of Education Spokesman Charles Pyle said if the flexibility is granted, Virginia schools would no longer be rated as meeting or not meeting the federal adequate yearly progress.

Pyle said the schools would be judged on accreditation as they are in Virginia on their success in the core subject areas of English/reading, math, history and science.

He said the annual report would also be supplemented by a report “on the progress or lack thereof of a school narrowing achievement gaps.”

And he said the reporting among various student subgroups would continue.

Pyle said the Virginia Department of Education hopes to get the OK for the changes in time for the start of the 2012-13 school year.

Area superintendents say the flexibility from the No Child requirements would be a welcome change, and one that is necessary.

Interim Staunton Schools Superintendent Ed Clymore said meeting 29 benchmarks  “is not my profile of good instruction.”

Clymore said having students meeting 17 to 18 benchmarks is still too many.

Augusta County Schools Superintendent Chuck Bishop said the state application “puts the education function back at the state level where it belongs.”

The competing Virginia and federal accountability systems have been confusing to the public for years, Bishop said.

“A school district is reported as being accredited, and in a matter of a week or several days, the same school division is reported as not meeting adequate yearly progress,’’ Bishop said.

Bishop said the No Child Law also has been known for its escalating pass targets each year that students could not meet.

The year 2014 would have included a 100 percent graduation rate for schools under the law as it now stands, and a 100 percent pass rate.

“We can’t guarantee that every child will perform the same way on a given test,’’ Bishop said.

He said the No Child law has rewarded passing scores, not student progress.

“I could make grade level improvement in reading, and still fail the test,’’ Bishop said.

While the Augusta superintendent is grateful for the window of federal flexibility, he expects there will be more revisions in future years.

“Ten years from now, five years from now we could be looking at something else,’’ he said of other potential revisions in the federal law.