Dive Brief:
- Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt says the No Child Left Behind targets are "flawed and misleading," responding to the fact that, without a federal waiver, over half of the state's schools are failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals established by the Bush-era law.
- The annual "State of the Schools" report looked at 2013-14 data and found that, according to NCLB, 480 of the state's public schools were "in need of improvement" because they didn't meet the targets for two consecutive years.
- Blomstedt argues that the expectation of 100% proficiency is unrealistic, juxtaposing the high targets with reality. According to Blomstedt, more than half of the state's schools earned their all-time best test scores this past year, something easily overshadowed when a school is then placed on a "needs improvement" list.
Dive Insight:
The issue Nebraska is dealing with — consistent or rising test scores overshadowed by unrealistic expectations — is one Washington state had to deal with in August. Without a No Child Left Behind waiver, the state's schools were held to No Child Left Behind's AYP requirements, meaning that over 1,900 of the state's 2,200 schools labeled as failing this past year despite test scores that were consistent over the past three years.