The Sacramento, Calif., school district and its teachers’ union announced last week they are withdrawing from a first-of-its-kind No Child Left Behind Act waiver the U.S. Department of Education granted last year.
In August, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan bypassed the state of California and granted the so-called CORE—for California Office to Reform Education—waiver to eight districts. That allowed those districts, which also include Los Angeles and Long Beach, to set up their own accountability system outside the state’s. Teachers viewed the process as uncollaborative and were particularly upset about plans to tie teacher evaluations to test scores.
A CORE spokeswoman said she expects the remaining seven districts to stick with the waiver.