School Officials Happy With Changes to NCLB

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Joseph Kraemer is pleased with the waiver from the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law that President Barack Obama's announced last week. Ten states, including New Jersey, would be freed from the education law.

Obama said the move was a reaction to Congress failing to update the law, which required all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Kraemer explained that rather than expecting 100% proficiency from all students, the new standards are much more realistic.

“They [the new standards] are geared much more toward college and career readiness, which I think is very important for students,” Kraemer said.

Under the waiver, schools will be divided into the categories of priority schools, those that need the most help; focus schools, those that have subgroups of students that need help; and reward schools, those that are doing well.

Jefferson Township Board of Education president Ron Smith was also in favor of the waiver.

“I think this gives us much more realistic goals that we can achieve,” Smith said. “Trying to hit 100% proficiency by 2014 would have been difficult.”

“We are human beings, not widgets,” Kraemer said. “We all have different strengths and this new plan takes that into account much more than the old one did.”

The first 10 states to receive the waivers are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee, the White House said. The only state that applied for the flexibility and did not get it, New Mexico, is working with the administration to get approval.

"If we're serious about helping our children reach their potential, the best ideas aren't going to come from Washington alone," Obama said in a statement. "Our job is to harness those ideas, and to hold states and schools accountable for making them work."

According to the Huffington Post:

No Child Left Behind requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Obama's action strips away that fundamental requirement for those approved for flexibility, provided they offer a viable plan instead. Under the deal, the states must show they will prepare children for college and careers, set new targets for improving achievement among all students, develop meaningful teacher and principal evaluation systems, reward the best performing schools and focus help on the ones doing the worst.

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