Duncan revokes Washington state's NCLB waiver

On April 24, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan yanked Washington state’s waiver, making the Evergreen State the first to lose the Obama administration’s flexibility from many of the mandates of the outdated No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

But, in an important twist, the state will not be returning to an accountability system that’s exactly like the one it had under NCLB, particularly when it comes to intervening in low-performing schools. Specifically, like other waiver states, Washington will still single out “priority” and “focus” schools this spring, even as it largely reverts back t...