INDIANAPOLIS – Thursday, the United States Department of Education granted Indiana a three-year extension of its waiver from some of the provisions of federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind. Among other things, the waiver will give more local control and greater flexibility to schools over how they utilize federal dollars. The three-year waiver is the longest such waiver in state history.
In response to this news, Glenda Ritz, Indiana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement is certainly welcome news for all Hoosiers and I want to thank President Obama and Secretary Duncan for this waiver. Because of this waiver, local schools throughout our state will continue to have more control over how they use precious federal resources.
“I am particularly excited to see that our Division of Outreach for School Improvement is getting federal recognition for their incredible work. Our Outreach Coordinators work proactively with schools throughout the state on ways to use data to drive school improvement in our lowest performing schools. In one year, they helped move 103 schools from failing status, representing over 61,000 students that are no longer attending a D or F school.
“As Superintendent, I will continue to work with both local schools and the federal government to find increased ways to direct more resources into classrooms while reducing the amount of time spent on testing.”
