Obama Grants Minnesota No Child Left Behind Waiver

President Barack Obama announced Thursday that Minnesota would be one of 10 states to receive a reprieve from the federal education law No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

In exchange, Minnesota would have to outline new, “bold” reforms to improve teacher effectiveness, grade school accountability and close the achievement gap in social and ethnic categories.

“My administration is giving states the opportunity to set higher, more honest standards in exchange for more flexibility,” Obama stated in a White House issued press release Thursday. “If we’re serious about helping our children reach their potential, the best ideas aren’t going to come from Washington alone.”

, laying out a plan in its place to reduce the achievement gap found via assessment tests over the next six years.

“NCLB has imposed rigid testing requirements," Gov. Mark Dayton said after announcing the state would apply for the waiver. "Many of which have harmed, not improved, the quality of students’ learning experiences.”

“Conceptually [NCLB] is a good idea, but like many concepts, if it’s not constructed in the right way, it becomes a failure,” Richfield Superintendent Bob Slotterback . “And that’s exactly what happened with No Child Left Behind.”

Minnesota's Plan Moving Forward

The movement, led by Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius, uses four measures of school performance, utilizing current tools such as the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment tests, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures, a year-over-year measurement of student growth, and school district graduation rates.

Through those four measurements, three school designations will be created. Schools scoring in the bottom 5 percent will be designated as “Priority Schools,” where the state will focus on developing and implementing a turnaround plan for that school, or school district.

The next bottom 10 percent of schools, as measured by the state, will be tagged as “Focus Schools.” These schools will be asked to work with their respective school district and the MDE to identify which subgroups are creating an achievement gap, and target an improvement plan to address specific needs.

Finally, schools in the top 15 percent will be identified as “Reward Schools.” These schools will be asked to share best practices with MDE, and will be “publicly recognized” at the state level for their work.