States, Ed. Dept. Reach Accords on 1994 ESEA

By Erik W. Robelen

Washington

Just days before a deadline this month mandated by Congress, the Department of Education signed binding compliance agreements with several states that lag far behind in meeting federal requirements on standards and testing dating back to 1994.

Already about a year behind what turned out to be very soft deadlines, those states—Alabama, Idaho, Montana, and West Virginia—plus the District of Columbia now have an extra three years to comply fully. If they fail to meet that goal, or a series of milestones along the way, they risk the loss of federal aid under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

That is not to say that all other states have met the 1994 ESEA requirements. A majority of them...