Today, the Obama administration approved seven more requests for waivers from No Child Left Behind (NCLB), in exchange for state-developed plans to prepare all students for college and career, focus aid on the neediest students, and support effective teaching and leadership. The approved states include Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and South Carolina, as well as the District of Columbia.

Federal education law has been due for congressional reauthorization since 2007. In the face of congressional inaction, President Obama announced in September of 2011 that the Obama Administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012. Five additional requests are still under review, and there is still time for other states to apply. States have until September 6 to apply for the next round of waivers.

The 32 states (plus the District of Columbia) that have been approved for waivers from NCLB include: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The 5 states with outstanding requests for waivers include California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, and Nevada.

The 13 states (plus Puerto Rico) that have not yet requested a waiver through this process include; Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Visit the US Department of Education website’s “ESEA Flexibility” section for more information.

On July 6, 2012, the Obama administration approved Washington and Wisconsin for flexibility from key provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—now called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—in exchange for state-developed plans that are required to include adoption of college and career ready standards, teacher and principal evaluation and nine other key components. This brings the number of states that have been approved for waivers from NCLB to 26, or more than half the country.

President Obama announced in September of 2011 that the Obama Administration would grant waivers from NCLB to qualified states. The first requests for waivers were granted in February of 2012.

The 26 states that have been approved for waivers from NCLB include: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

The 10 other states (plus Washington, D.C.) with outstanding requests for waivers include: Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, and South Carolina.

The 14 states (plus Puerto Rico) that have not yet requested a waiver through this process include: Alabama, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), West Virginia, and Wyoming.

States have until September 6, 2012, to apply for the next round of waivers. 

Visit the US Department of Education website’s “ESEA Flexibility” section for more information.

The state-led Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is seeking a second round of public comment on the Model Content Frameworks for English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy as part of an on-going development process to ensure the frameworks meet the needs of educators, curriculum directors and school leaders.

In November 2011, PARCC released Model Content Frameworks to inform item development and to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). That release was based on multiple rounds of feedback, including a public comment period in August 2011. Now that the frameworks have been in the field for several months, PARCC is again looking for the education community to provide feedback on the frameworks in order to clarify any language or make any necessary corrections.

The initial public review resulted in a number of conceptual changes in the frameworks, which are detailed through a recorded webinar and presentations at www.parcconline.org/parcc-content-frameworks.

The public can download the PARCC Model Content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy in PDF format. 

The public comment survey for ELA/Literacy will be open until Friday, June 27, 2012. Users can access the feedback survey at www.parcconline.org. PARCC will revise the frameworks during the month of July with the goal of releasing final versions later this summer. Once the frameworks are final, PARCC will hold public webinars to walk through the changes. Information about the webinars will be available on the PARCC website later this summer. 

PARCC also will seek public comment on the Model Content Frameworks for Mathematics, including updates to the frameworks for high school, starting June 25.

Read more information about PARCC on their website at www.parcconline.org/about-parcc. 

Secretary Duncan and the U.S. Department of Education recently announced a new Race to the Top District (RTT-D) competition, one that is aimed at the classroom level with a focus on the relationship between teachers and students. 

The proposed competition offers nearly $400 million in grants and invites school districts to create plans for individualized classroom instruction aimed at closing achievement gaps and preparing each student for college and career. The department anticipates giving out as many as 20 four-year grants of up to $25 million each. Districts can apply individually or as a consortium. 

One of the five absolute priorities is a focus on personalization of instruction, which the RTT-D criteria describe as “student centered learning environment(s) that are designed to: significantly improve teaching and learning through the personalization of strategies, tools, and supports for teachers and students that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards (as defined in this document); increase the effectiveness of educators, and expand student access to the most effective educators in order to raise student achievement; decrease the achievement gap across student groups; and increase the rates at which students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers.” 

Applicant must annually serve a minimum of 2,500 participating students. At least forty percent of participating students across all participating schools must be students from low-income families, based on eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch subsidies under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, or other poverty measures that local educational agencies (LEAs) use to make awards under section 1113(a) of the ESEA.

The Department is accepting comments on the RTT-D executive summary, eligibility criteria, application requirements, absolute priorities, selection criteria, competitive preference priority, and program requirements through its website comments form. Though the Department will not respond to comments, the Department will read and consider all comments in finalizing the RTT-D competition design. 

The Department plans to release the application in July with an October submission deadline. Awards will be announced no later than Dec. 31, 2012. 

The RTT-D press release and Senator Arne Duncan’s speech are available of the Department of Education website. Read more about RTT-D from International Reading Association Director of Government Relations Richard Long. 

by Jen Donovan

Fourteen additional states have been chosen to receive funding from the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program to turn around their lowest performing schools. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced this plan as part of $535 million included in the fiscal year 2011 budget and made available to states under the program. 

• Turnaround Model: Replace the principal, screen existing school staff, and rehire no more than half the teachers; adopt a new governance structure; and improve the school through curriculum reform, professional development, extending learning time, and other strategies.
• Restart Model: Convert a school or close it and re-open it as a charter school or under an education management organization.
• School Closure: Close the school and send the students to higher-achieving schools in the district.
• Transformation Model: Replace the principal and improve the school through comprehensive curriculum reform, professional development, extended learning time, and other strategies.

States to Receive Funding 

On March 30, 2012, Duncan announced that Arkansas will receive $5.7 million, Colorado will receive $5.7 million, Delaware will receive $1.5 million, Illinois will receive $23.6 million, Indiana will receive $9.3 million, Massachusetts will receive $7.8 million, Nebraska will receive $2.4 million, North Dakota will receive $1.2 million, and Pennsylvania will receive $19.6 million. 

On April 30, he stated that California will receive $63 million, New York will receive $41.3 million, Ohio will receive $21 million, Oklahoma will receive $5.6 million, and Wyoming will receive $1.1 million. 

On May 11, Duncan shared that Louisiana will receive $10.1 million.

For more information on the allocations, please refer to the state allocation table and the SIG data map on the Department of Education SIG website.

Research on Impact of School Improvement Grants

The Center on Education Policy recently released a report entitled “Opportunities and Obstacles: Implementing Stimulus-Funded School Improvement Grants in Maryland, Michigan and Idaho” which examines the implementation of the SIG program by drawing on research conducted in three states, seven school districts, and 11 schools—including schools that were eligible for but did not receive a SIG award. 

Although the schools involved in Opportunities and Obstacles will no longer receive SIG funding after the end of the school year, this study and others like it are scheduled to be tracked through the year 2013 to examine how well schools can maintain their reform efforts on their own despite the lack of funding. “Schools are optimistic and report that they’re learning about what works well,” says Diane Rentner, deputy director at the Center on Education Policy, “Unfortunately, oftentimes it does come down to having the resources.”

A recent study of 22 California schools by Thomas Dee, professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, provides evidence for the effectiveness of SIG funding in low-performing schools. Dee’s analysis shows that in the first year of the program, the transformation efforts closed 23% of the achievement gap in California’s lowest-performing schools. Although this data is still preliminary, this is the first study of its kind to yield such results. According to Duncan, “Educators and schools leaders cannot give up on making far-reaching improvements in student learning in our lowest-performing schools. Children only get one shot at a good education. And Dee's new study reminds us that poverty is not destiny.”

Jen Donovan is the strategic communications intern at the International Reading Association.