George W. Bush’s signature education-reform legislation marked its tenth anniversary this year. But Congress has never gotten around to reauthorizing or adjusting No Child Left Behind, which has been widely branded a failure as it punishes more and more schools for failing to make adequate progress toward the law’s goal of having 100% of students be proficient in math and reading by 2014. With no relief in sight from Capitol Hill, the Obama Administration in February began awarding waivers to states that adopt the Common Core curriculum standards, develop plans to overhaul their lowest-performing schools and implement teacher evaluations that take into account how students perform on standardized tests. To date, 34 states and the District of Columbia have received waivers, effectively ending the NCLB era of public education in the U.S.
U.S. News
Thanks for liking TIME’s Top 10 Everything of 2012 List. Like TIME on Facebook now for more breaking news and current events from around the globe.
6. Bypassing No Child Left Behind
Full List
Top 10 Education Stories
- 10. Go, Fight, Win: Texas Cheerleaders and the B-I-B-L-E
- 9. The Rise of the Digital Textbook
- 8. Harvard’s Cheating Scandal
- 7. Shaming the For-Profit Colleges
- 6. Bypassing No Child Left Behind
- 5. The Ever-Worsening Student Loan Crisis
- 4. UVA President Ousted—Then Reinstated
- 3. Malala and the Fight for Girls’ Education Worldwide
- 2. Chicago Teachers Hit the Picket Lines
- 1. Planet of the MOOCs
Top 10 U.S. News Stories
- 10. The American Energy Boom
- 9. The Grim Toll of Military Suicides
- 8. Obama’s Gay Marriage Awakening
- 7. The Fall of Gen. David Petraeus
- 6. Amnesty for the Undocumented?
- 5. Mayhem at Aurora and Oak Creek
- 4. The Killing of Trayvon Martin
- 3. ‘Obamacare’ Upheld
- 2. Hurricane Sandy
- 1. President Obama Reelected to Fix a Struggling Economy