After a seemingly endless road to replace the long-expired Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act, Congressional negotiations have finally resulted in an agreement to replace it.

NPR takes a look on what kinds of changes will come from the expected overhaul.

First and foremost, standardized testing remains. Schools will still be required to test 95 percent of its students in 3rd through 8th grade and at least once in high school, so those optimistic about significant testing cutbacks won’t be too satisfied.

However, good news for many is that the government will no longer be able to push standards or push that teacher evaluations be tied to student test scores, a practice that has received much push-back and even generated an unprecedented opt-out movement last year.

Another big change that will make some happy is the reduced role of the federal government in education. The overhaul will shift accountability over to states, a huge change from NCLB.

"But the biggest change lawmakers are proposing is this: They want the federal government out of the business of identifying failing schools, leaving that tough job to states. Each state would come up with its own plan to help schools improve, its own deadlines and its own metrics to measure that improvement. If schools don't improve, states would have to figure out what to do,” the article said.

This is good news for those who feels that it is best for states to determine how to run its schools, but bad for those who feel like this will in turn hurt underserved children as accountability slips away.

"A compromise bill will soon move to the full House and Senate before it can make its way to President Obama," the article said.

Read the full story.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

11/24/2015