The Superintendent of Hardin County Schools says the No Child Left Behind waiver given to Kentucky will allow the state to better judge how students are progressing academically. Nannette Johnston told WKU Public Radio that the federal law was an overly simplistic “pass or fail” model. She believes the state’s new system will give schools credit for the success they have in helping individual students.
"It is calculated based upon looking at individual student growth, and also looking at the school growth and individual growth targets, based upon the gains that they've made," said Johnston.
The new system going into effect in Kentucky was passed by the General Assembly in 2009, and mandates that every public school student graduate prepared for higher education or a career.
Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee are three of the ten states the Obama Administration freed from the No Child Left Behind rules.
Congress has been working to rewrite the controversial law, but the President decided to bypass lawmakers in allowing states to apply for waivers. The White House said it was willing to give waivers to states that had demonstrated serious efforts in drafting and implementing their own educational reform plans.
