States Get Flexibility on Targets

Spellings to allow creation of alternative interventions.

As President Bush nears the end of his tenure, his administration is putting its final stamp on the No Child Left Behind Act and trying to lay the groundwork for the law’s future.

The latest effort will allow as many as 10 states to create alternative interventions for schools that have failed to meet their achievement targets under the 6-year-old law. The states could offer intensive interventions in schools with persistently low achievement levels and target more specific help to schools that are closer to their achievement goals.

“The goal is to help educators act now to help schools in every stage of improvement,” U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said in a speech in St. Paul, Minn., where she unveiled the planned pilot...