No Child Left Behind is an assessment system where every child must be proficient in math and reading by 2014. Now Ohio and seven other states will have more flexibility with those requirements after The Ohio Department of Education expected 90 percent of schools to miss the mark without the waiver.
Ohio gets a break from the decade old requirements of No Child Left Behind
"I think that we all realized that was an unrealistic goal and this goal looks at closing that achievement gap which is much more realistic,' says Belpre Superintendent, Tony Dunn.
This new state goal will aim to shrink performance gaps between children of different income and skill levels."
Adequate yearly progress, that will no longer be the measure, instead they will use a gap closing for some groups of students such as students with special needs, or students from families in poverty and the idea is to close the achievement gap," says Dunn.
State officials say Ohio's new school rating system will be more realistic but just as aggressive
"The number of standards is going to be lessened and instead of going a mile wide and two inches deep, we're going to go a whole lot deeper," explains Dunn. "So there will be fewer standards that teachers have to cover but they will cover them in more depth."
Superintendent Dunn says the common core standards means a zip code can't dictate the curriculum. "That way, kids in Ohio are receiving the same curriculum as the kids in California or Minnesota. The kids in third grade need things that are appropriate for third graders no matter where they live and these common core standards will ensure that," explains Dunn.
Superintendent Dunn says with the common core standards assessments will change for everything Ohio schools do that includes a new evaluation system for teachers and principals.
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