Law’s Timeline on Proficiency Under Debate

2013-14 goal for reading, math may be open to a ‘fresh look.’

When President Bush and Congress crafted the No Child Left Behind Act, they agreed on one specific goal for academic achievement: All students would be proficient in reading and mathematics by the end of the 2013-14 school year. Once considered sacrosanct, that goal appears to be open for negotiation as House and Senate leaders consider plans to reauthorize the law.

Although congressional leaders haven’t proposed plans to relax the 2013-14 goal, they have backed down from earlier public statements supporting it. Their recent statements suggest that they are willing to reconsider the timeline.

The House Education and Labor Committee’s draft NCLB-renewal bill would require schools to track students’ academic growth based on the law’s original proficiency deadline, but the target and everything else in the draft are open for discussion, said Tom Kiley, a spokesman for the...