Federal A Washington Roundup

Department Releases NCLB Guide for States

By Christina A. Samuels — November 15, 2005 1 min read
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Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said last week that her department has written a “user-friendly” guide to the No Child Left Behind Act for state education leaders.

“No Child Left Behind: A Road Map for State Implementation” does not contain technical data. Instead, it’s a collection of Department of Education-selected highlights of administrative interpretations of the law that have been issued since it was signed into law in early 2002. Among many examples, the booklet gives an overview of adequate-yearly-progress measurements, assessments of students with disabilities, and requirements for “highly qualified” teachers.

“The Road Map breaks down a sometimes complex law into clear, common-sense principles, such as annual student assessment, disaggregation of data, and proficiency by 2014,” Secretary Spellings writes in the foreword to the booklet. “We want states to always be headed toward the right destination, even if how they get there differs along the way.”

Ms. Spellings announced the publication on Nov. 10 during a presentation at an education symposium in Charlotte, N.C., sponsored by the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy.

The booklet is online at www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/roadmap/index.html.

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