Examiner (Baton Rouge, LA)
August 10. 2011
Headline: No Child Left Behind Reform and Baton Rouge Schools

By Warita Winbush

The United States Department of Education has announced that schools will be granted waivers from testing mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act. 48 schools in the state of Louisiana were added to the list of academically unacceptable schools according the state performance scores for the 2010-2011 school year, according to the Louisiana State Department of Education (LDOE) as a result of the strict requirements. Of the 48 schools added to the list of Academically Unacceptable Schools, eight were in East Baton Rouge Parish. These schools weren't added to the list due to lack of progress. These schools were added due to the yearly increasing standard scores set forth by Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) according to the mandates of the 2004 No Child Left Behind Act. The LDOE states, "more Louisiana students than ever are grade-level proficient. But a five-point boost in the minimum mark needed to avoid the Academically Unacceptable School (AUS) label placed more schools on the state's 2011 AUS list, which was released by LDOE today." In this capacity, No Child Left Behind is by many as leaving more children behind than ever because the legislation may not be doing enough to factor academic improvements made by the schools and, most importantly, the students. To rectify situations such as this, Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education proposed that Congress reform the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act or accept White House Administrative reform of the act. Duncan made this proposition a month ago, yet in Washington, political gridlock over the nation's budget overshadowed education reform. So, Duncan has forged ahead with a new No Child Left Behind reform agenda agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats alike.

The new reforms of No Child Left Behind will allow an extension of the time limit that schools will have to become compliant with NCLB. NCLB reforms as well as introduce waivers to failing school districts whose funding has been cut due to low school performance scores. Such waivers would allow schools to spend funds in ways most befitting their schools and the communities in which they dwell. Further, these waivers would allow qualified schools to opt out of certain provisions of NCLB.