Arkansas Takes Action to Fix Federal NCLB Law

Changes/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Official Action

Description of Action: "The federal Education Department has agreed to review requests from 20 states to alter significantly the way they measure student progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. The move comes as the number of schools across the country deemed substandard under that law grows by the thousands.

The requests, which Education Secretary Margaret Spellings invited states to submit last November as part of a pilot project, would allow states to judge schools by tracking the progress of individual students over time...

The states that have applied to make the changes for the current school year are Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

Six more — Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — have asked to apply changes next year."
-New York Times, February 22, 2006

Status of Action: Secretary of Education has approved for peer review process

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Change/Waivers Requested

Action Type: Legislation

Description of Action: State House of Representatives introduced HB 2903 which is an act to establish procedures for implementing the highly qualified teacher provision in the No Child Left Behind Act. The Bill includes an emergency clause stating that the state risks losing funding for non-compliance at the start of the school year.

Status of Action: Withdrawn by author, 4/7/05

Click here to read full text of bill *