ARKANSAS — No Child Left Behind has been the gold standard for schools since it was signed into law in 2002.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education granted Arkansas’ request to waive the act’s requirements, changing the standards for schools across the state as they transition to Common Core.

The changes are, overall, an improvement, said Gary Ritter, director of education policy at the University of Arkansas.

“It pays attention to where you start,” Ritter said.

Under No Child Left Behind, all students were to test at proficient levels by 2014. Under the waiver, schools must move students halfway from where they are to 100 percent proficient within the next six years, said James Woodworth, distinguished doctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas Office for Educational Policy.

Benchmark tests, already in place, were used to set new goals for each school. Arkansas, a member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, is slated to transition to that test in the 2014-15 school year. The new goals are a stopgap as schools move from the Arkansas Frameworks to the Common Core standards, Woodworth said. Arkansas’ waiver document shows expectations of piloting the new tests this school year.Woodworth said he’s not optimistic the test will be ready.

“This is a major undertaking,” he said.

The new test, which includes computer scoring for student essays, is still being developed to align with Common Core standards.

Meanwhile, the waiver will offer relief to schools that landed in improvement because of an assortment of student subgroups.

Under No Child LeftBehind, any school not on track to hit 100 percent by 2014 or any school with even one student subgroup that strayed from the goal would be labeled in need of improvement. Students could belong to more than one subgroup.

The new standards established by the state track students learning English, have special needs or at risk because of poverty in the Targeted Achievement Gap Group, a new unified grouping system.

Prior to the waiver, schools were not accountable for a subgroup unless the number of students in a specific category hit 40. That number has been reduced to 25 students in any category. Arkansas’ waiver application states 98 percent of students in one of the at-risk categories will be counted in a subgroup using the revised method.

“There’s going to be a super-subgroup,” Ritter said.

News, Pages 10 on 07/11/2012