Schools, No Child Left Behind | featured news

The Obama administration will free 10 states from the requirements of No Child Left Behind, responding to complaints from teachers and school administrators across the country that the nation’s main education law is outdated and punitive.

The No Child Left Behind education law offered the promise of improved schools and better prepared students in a competitive world. Yet after a decade on the books, President George W. Bush's most hyped domestic accomplishment has become a symbol to many of federal overreach and Congress' inability to fix something that's clearly flawed.

The Obama administration is offering states a way around provisions of the once-heralded No Child Left Behind law, contending many elements of the Bush-era education initiative have become barriers to learning and that too many schools, even those showing modest progress, risk being labeled as failing....