The Virginia state board of education is seeking waivers from the federal No Child Left Behind law to revise how it calculates adequate yearly progress and change the services it provides in schools not meeting that level.
Meanwhile, Betty J. Sternberg, Connecticut’s state education commissioner, is seeking an exemption from having to expand the state’s current tests to comply with the law.
Among a list of requests approved Jan. 19, the Virginia board is asking the U.S. Department of Education to let the state limit supplemental services and school choice. Under the request, schools that don’t make AYP because one or more subgroups fail to reach the goals would only have to offer supplemental services or school choice to the subgroups and individuals that missed the targets.
The board also requested that schools failing to reach AYP be allowed to offer supplemental services before offering school choice, reversing the order required under the 3-year-old law.
The federal Department of Education will review the request, a department spokeswoman confirmed.
