States to Get New Options on NCLB Law

More Flexibility Promised as Spec. Ed. Rules Eased

Mount Vernon, Va.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced this deal for states last week: Prove your student achievement is rising, and I’ll give you new flexibility in meeting federal mandates.

The Department of Education will entertain proposals from states to waive rules under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Ms. Spelling said in an April 7 speech here to an audience that included state schools chiefs and representatives of national education groups. The department also will soon propose new rules for every state that would make it easier to assess students with disabilities, she added.

“It is the results that truly matter, not the bureaucratic way that you get there,” Ms. Spellings said in an auditorium at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. “That’s just common sense, sometimes lost in the...