Waiver Won't Alter Wilmington's Approach

The decision to award Massachusetts a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Law is a positive one, though Wilmington school officials said it also won’t change their approach to education in the district.

“We’re going to continue to do what we’ve been doing,” said Assistant Superintendent of Schools Kate Burnham. “In practical day-to-day terms, the focus will remain the same. We want to continue to work to find ways to ensure that our students are learning. Teachers across the district are going to continue using data to find out ways to improve.”

Massachusetts was one of 10 states in the country to receive the waiver, meaning the law requiring 100 percent of students to be proficient in standardized English and math tests by 2014 will no longer apply.

In the state, 90 percent of districts were likely to miss that goal, while 80 percent of schools were as well.

“It’s going to have an impact on the overall atmosphere in schools,” said Burnham. “Even though schools were making progress, not hitting those benchmarks has been frustrating for teachers. They’re trying. They’re working hard. Removing that overall negative connotation (of being labeled a school in need of improvement) will be very helpful in alleviating some of that pressure and stress that is felt by districts everywhere.”

The assistant superintendent also added that the shift from punishment to positive ideology should be beneficial in the long run. 

“The focus on closing the gap, moving students from a lower performance category to higher, general overall growth for students and looking at graduation and dropout rates, those are things we would continue to focus on,” said Burnham. “That piece hasn’t really changed.”