Many of us have become familiar with the terms and language of NCLB: Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), Failing Schools, Achievement Gaps, Proficient and Advanced, Basic, and Below Basic, etc.

However, how has NCLB, the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), affected the achievement of our students? Overall the findings are clear; it has not done enough to help states provide the education our students need to thrive. The TN waiver is an effort by the state to not only address those findings but to overcome the inability on the national level to reauthorize NCLB or something to take its place.

Under NCLB schools were classified as met AYP or not. Every year if school did not meet AYP they were faced with different levels of punitive measures. These become more severe if performance does not improve. The ultimate goal of NCLB was to have every student 100% proficient on state achievement goals by 2014. This goal unfortunately will not be met.

So, how does this waiver affect our schools?

The State/districts must develop and implement a system that differentiates schools into the following 4 categories, with targeted interventions/rewards for each group:

Reward –Identify and reward highest performing schools. 10% total with top 5% “highest performing” and top 5% “highest progress” schools.

Other – middle 75% of schools

Focus – 10% of schools with largest achievement gaps (between within-school sub-groups (Race, economically disadvantaged); persistent underperformance of a subgroup(s); low grad rates but not “priority”)

Priority – Bottom 5% of schools in proficiency/ graduation rates (These are also schools that will qualify for the Achievement School District (ASD))

In this new accountability system achievement and progress towards subgroup achievement will correspond to targeted interventions and rewards, instead of an automatic did not meet AYP status, because a single subgroup did not meet achievement expectations.

For example, a school is achieving relatively well, however, economically disadvantaged students at the school are not meeting state designated achievement levels. At this point the district can now come up with a plan to target interventions for the sub-group which will be measured by growth every three years (how well students are improving instead of simply meeting a percentage correct on the test). 

We will continue to update you all as we get updates on the waiver, and how it will be implemented.