By Michele McNeil
For the second time, the U.S. Department of Education is giving states with No Child Left Behind Act waivers more time to decide whether they want an extra year to implement a key piece of their teacher-evaluation systems.
First, the deadline to apply for a one-year waiver extension was Sept. 30. Then, it got moved to Oct. 31. And now, it’s Nov. 22.
This waiver extension allows states to postpone using student growth on state tests as a factor in personnel decisions for up to one additional year—until the 2016-17 school year. Originally, the federal waiver guidelines required states do all of this by the 2015-16 school year.