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More Changes to State's "No Child" Waiver

The Tennessee Department of Education is making some changes to a waiver that would allow the state to opt out of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Tennessee asked the federal government for the waiver back in July.

State Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman says Tennessee had little choice but to ask for relief from the law’s increasingly strict standards for yearly improvement in student test scores.  He says that nearly 80% of Tennessee schools will likely fail to meet federal standards in the current school year.

President Barack Obama announced in September that he would grant the waivers, but only for states agreeing to education reforms the White House favors.

Commissioner Huffman told reporters in a conference call yesterday that the feds are changing the waiver requirements again. He says Tennessee is being asked to make additional education changes such as dividing schools into categories with targeted interventions or rewards for each group.