No Child Left Behind Law Exemption Granted For Virginia

Virginia schools have received an exemption from portions of allowing the state to set its own goals for tightening the achievement gap, within certain parameters, according to a news release issued Friday morning by the Virginia Department of Education.

In addition to Virginia, the federal government approved waivers for four other states, allowing each to put forth its plan to cut the achievement gap by 50 percent overall and within each student subgroup within six years.

The waiver exempts Virginia systems from NCLB's requirement to close the gap among all students by 2014.

"Virginia schools and school divisions can now focus their energy and resources on implementing the state Board of Education's rigorous new content standards and assessments without contending with outdated and often counter-productive federal requirements and rules," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Patricia Wright said in a statement.

"The commonwealth will continue to hold schools accountable for closing achievement gaps but schools won’t be subject to a system of increasingly unrealistic annual objectives."

Virginia is among the 24 states with a NCLB waiver. The U.S. Department of Education is considering granting waivers to 13 more states.

The state's school systems will no longer receive Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) ratings, though the state will continue to report annual school accreditation ratings based on the program through its own accountability program.

, along with 127 other school divisions in the state, failed to meet the federal government’s Adequate Yearly Progress in August. 

If a school or school division doesn’t meet just one of those benchmarks, then it could fail to meet AYP all together, Manassas Park City Schools Superintendent Dr. Bruce McDade said in an earlier report.

McDade couldn't be reached for comment on Friday.

State department of education data show 97 percent of the school divisions in Virginia didn't make AYP in 2011.

None of Manassas Park's schools made AYP and 61 percent of Virginia schools didn't meet the federal government's standards. 

AYP scores for 2012 will be released in August.

In 2011, about half of Fairfax County Public Schools . At the time, FCPS officials decried the federal standards, stating they did not believe AYP to be a "helpful indicator of school success."