The law behind release of LI schools list

There's broad agreement the No Child Left Behind law has flaws in how it tries to improve students' English and math skills, but no one yet has a solution.

The 2002 law, which makes schools, administrators and districts accountable for student performance, is what prompted annual reviews that led to Thursday's release of a list of 106 Long Island schools in need of improvement.

President Barack Obama stepped into the breach in late September with a plan allowing states to apply for waivers to some of the law's requirements.

"I want to say the goals behind No Child Left Behind were admirable. President Bush deserves credit for that," Obama said then, referring to former President George W. Bush. "Higher standards are the right goal."

No Child Left Behind, enacted with bipartisan support, requires all schools to administer reading and math tests every year, and to increase the proportion of students who pass them. It set a goal of 100 percent of student proficiency by 2014 -- a target many educators have said is impossible.

Obama, in his speech announcing the waiver option, said the law has "some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them." Among those, he said, are teachers "teaching to the test," inattention to other subjects, and a lowering of standards in some states seeking to avoid their schools being labeled as failures.

Under Obama's waiver plan, states would have greater flexibility and would be relieved of several central provisions -- such as the 2014 deadline -- if they adopt higher standards. To be eligible, states must adopt "college and career ready" academic standards, undertake aggressive interventions to improve their most troubled schools, and create teacher-evaluation guidelines, based in part on student performance.

New York is among 41 states, to date, that have indicated their intention to seek a waiver. The first application deadline is Monday. New York education officials said they need more time, and plan to apply by the second deadline, in mid-February.

The shift comes after congressional inaction on reforms to No Child Left Behind, with GOP and Democratic lawmakers casting partisan blame."Many of us in Congress are ready to roll up our sleeves and tackle this," Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), one of two Long Islanders on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said in a statement, "but the Republican leadership is too scared of Tea Party members who would sooner eliminate the Department of Education than make smart reforms to it."

A spokeswoman for Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who chairs that committee and has criticized the waiver plan, rejected that assertion. Several new Republican committee members needed time to become familiar with the issues, spokeswoman Alexandra Sollberger said, making it "impractical to amend the most controversial parts of No Child Left Behind by the deadline favored by the president."

With John Hildebrand