The Texas Education Agency is waiting until the federal government rolls out more details in September before deciding whether to seek a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.
NCLB is a federal academic accountability law that rates schools and districts on students鈥� performance on standardized tests. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned in May that this year, unless changes are made. Austin ISD is school districts.
鈥淚t is highly unlikely [Texas] would apply for 2011, because we鈥檝e already issued those ratings,鈥� TEA spokesperson Debbie Ratcliffe told KUT News.
Ratcliffe said Texas Education Commissioner will wait until the U.S. Department of Education releases information on what strings are attached to such a waiver before deciding whether to pursue it.
The Obama administration it would allow states 鈥渢o seek relief鈥� from key provisions of the federal academic accountability law, 鈥減rovided that they are willing to embrace education reform.鈥�
That 鈥渆mbrace鈥� of education reform could include a requirement that states adopt federal curriculum guidelines known as
Such a requirement would be a deal breaker for Texas.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly one of the kind of issues we need to know more about,鈥� Ratcliffe said. 鈥淭exas is not going to do the common core curriculum standards. If that鈥檚 a requirement to get this waiver, then we can鈥檛 do it.鈥�
Texas has been reluctant to sign on to the feds鈥� common core standards, despite participation by a majority of other states, because it sees the standards as federal intrusion into state jurisdiction. The Texas Education Agency has also said .
