State ready to seek test scores' waiver

While Connecticut still works on its waiver application, the White House announced Thursday that public schools in 10 states will no longer be judged by test scores under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

States approved for flexibility are Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

"Today, we're giving ten states the green light to continue making reforms that are best for them," President Barack Obama said. " Because if we're serious about helping our children reach their potential, the best ideas aren't going to come from Washington alone. Our job is to harness those ideas, and to hold states and schools accountable for making them work."

One state, New Mexico, applied but did not get a waiver.

In Connecticut, the state Board of Education meets Friday to finalize an application that must be submitted by Feb. 21, 2012.

Connecticut's application is going to draw strongly on the reform initiatives spelled out Wednesday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in his budget address before the general assembly.

To be considered for a waiver, the state needs to work to strengthen its college and career readiness standards, reduce unnecessary burdens, create a method to evaluate and support classroom teachers and develop its own school accountability system.

Malloy's plan would revamp the state's teacher tenure system, give extra money to struggling school districts with strings attached, support more charter school and preschool slots and would begin to judge college teacher prep programs by how well graduates do in the classroom.

The No Child Left Behind Act, approved in 2001, set out to make all students proficient in math and reading by 2014. All schools were judged by how many students met that proficiency measure.

States receiving waivers no longer have to meet 2014 targets set by NCLB but they must set new performance targets for improving student achievement and closing achievement gaps.

Besides Connecticut, 27 other states along with D.C. and Puerto Rico have indicated their intent to seek waivers.

lclambeck@ctpost.com, 203-330-6218; http://twitter.com/lclambeck