So far, 11 have states have gotten wiggle room from No Child Left Behind’s accountability system, and 27 more are waiting to hear. Who’s not on the list? California, which has already said, basically, that it doesn’t think Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s waiver plan fits its needs.
But that doesn’t mean the state wants to stick with NCLB as it is. Instead, Michael Kirst, the state board president, and Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, have readied their own waiver request, which borrows some things from the department’s principles—but skips a key component: teacher evaluation.