N.M. ‘No Child’ Waiver Fails

New Mexico “is getting very, very close” to earning a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, but its application was the weakest among 11 states applying, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Thursday.

New Mexico was the only one of those states that failed to get a waiver, which is a release from having to comply with the controversial federal act, the White House announced.

Duncan said after the announcement that he thinks New Mexico will earn a waiver in the “not too distant future,” but he wasn’t ready to grant one yet.

“New Mexico is doing great work. They came in with the weakest of the 11 applications, so they had the furthest road to go,” Duncan said in a conference call with reporters. “They’ve made tremendous progress since the initial submission.”

Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks said the rejection won’t have much effect but was an embarrassment because of the way New Mexico was singled out.

Duncan did not give details about exactly why the application was lacking, but letters from his department to the state Public Education Department showed concern about New Mexico’s A-F school grading system and whether it addresses “subgroups” of students like those learning English or ethnic minorities.

The first A-F school grades, released in January, assign schools a grade based on student test scores, improvement of those scores, attendance and other factors.

State Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera said Thursday she is undaunted by the White House announcement and believes New Mexico will get a waiver in the coming weeks.

“Those in favor of the status quo should not be celebrating right now,” Skandera said. “I’m confident our waiver is right around the corner.”

If New Mexico receives a waiver soon, schools would not have to calculate Adequate Yearly Progress, which gives schools a pass-fail rating based on student test scores and requires all students to be proficient by 2014. This is widely regarded as unrealistic, and educators are increasingly dismissive of AYP ratings. Skandera opposes the pass-fail nature of No Child Left Behind, and says her A-F grades provide a more nuanced picture of how schools are doing and whether they are making progress.

President Barack Obama’s administration has encouraged states to apply for the waivers, saying Congress is years overdue in reauthorizing and modifying the act and schools can’t afford to wait. States seeking waivers must show they have quality systems for holding schools accountable, rewarding excellent teaching and setting high standards for students.

Brooks said if the state does not get a waiver in coming months, schools will be evaluated under both the A-F system and the old AYP system.

“Unless we get the waiver, we will be held accountable under both systems, and nobody pays any attention to AYP, anyway,” Brooks said. “I’m not sure it has any negative impact on anybody. I think the negative impact is 11 states submitted and everyone was accepted except one, and that’s New Mexico. And I think that’s embarrassing, quite frankly.”

Duncan said New Mexico’s initial application, submitted in November, was “incomplete.”

Skandera said the incomplete portion dealt with transition to Common Core standards – a national set of standards most states expect to adopt in the next few years. Skandera said her team was applying for a Kellogg Foundation grant and finalizing plans for moving to Common Core, and didn’t turn in that piece of the application until Jan. 31.

Another concern outlined in the Jan. 24 letter from the federal government to the PED was the A-F grading system’s failure to give schools incentives to close the achievement gaps between groups like racial minorities or those learning English. New Mexico’s grading system awards points for academic growth by the lowest-scoring students, but does not break them down by subgroup.

Skandera said although subgroups are not specifically addressed in the A-F grades, she will require all schools with “significant” achievement gaps to create plans to help struggling groups of students.

The January letter also is critical of how high schools are graded under the A-F system, suggesting schools in which low-performing students drop out early might receive better grades than those that keep more students.

According to the letter, graduation rate is a small portion of the grade, and most other parts of the grade are based on tests and classes taken in 11th and 12th grades. So schools could benefit if low-achieving students dropped out before their junior year, according to the letter.