Ohio’s greater NCLB flexibility doesn’t extend to local districts or schools
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that even though Ohio is one of six states that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has granted increased flexibility to under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the state's 1.8 million public-school students attending classes this fall won't have a clue that ED eased regulations for Ohio. Nor will the state's teachers, principals and superintendents find their day-to-day chores any easier. That's because the new program, known as the Differentiated Accountability Pilot, hands the increased flexibility to state officials rather than to practitioners in the field. That's a disappointment for districts that have struggled to meet federal benchmarks despite continued academic improvement.
The proposed change will allow Ohio to create three tiers of districts missing the yearly progress target—those requiring low support, medium support, and high support. That way, the state can target the appropriate level of help to the districts that need it the most. “Our goal in applying for this flexibility was so that we would be able to provide districts additional supports to address the needs of their students,” said State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman. ED Secretary Margaret Spellings said, “I'm hopeful that they will build on this progress by creating effective new strategies that we can share and take to scale.” The Ohio legislature is expected to take up the proposed revisions contained in the pilot program this fall. Meanwhile, some local school officials in Ohio are hoping that Congress, which is reauthorizing NCLB, will come up with a kinder formula.
Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7/27/08, By Scott Stephens
[Editor’s Note: Background on the Differentiated Accountability Program is below.]
NSBA School Law pages on Differentiated Accountability Program