Nov 27, 2002 3 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Education Department promised Tuesday to give states more flexibility in defining the annual progress their schools must achieve to meet strict accountability standards in a new federal education law. Final regulations issued by the department to implement the law provide “additional flexibility wherever possible” to help states measure their progress, officials said.

The new rules permit states to use their current systems for measuring accountability, as long as they integrate the standards mandated in the new law.

“My hope is that states will accept this guidance in the spirit that it is given, to help close the achievement gap in America’s schools that for too long split us into two nations – one that dreams and one that doesn’t, one that is hopeful and one that is hopeless,” Education Secretary Rod Paige said.

The new law, signed by President Bush in January, makes more federal money available for elementary and secondary education but holds educators accountable for failures in teaching the nation’s 48 million public school students. The bill authorizes the federal government to spend $26.5 billion, though the actual amount spent will be slightly less.

The law requires students in grades three through eight to be tested annually in reading and math, beginning in fall 2005. States must show a certain level of improvement every two years and have all schools performing at a proficient level by 2014.

Schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress could face sanctions.

For example, they may be forced to pay transportation costs for low-income students to attend better-performing schools within the district. Under the new rules, school districts cannot use overcrowded classes in better-performing schools as an excuse to keep students from transferring from failing schools.

States have not set up the new testing programs – and will not have to until the 2005-2006 school year. Since 1994, though, states have been required to test students three times in their school careers. Those schools in which scores have not risen quickly enough have been considered “failing.”

The new education reforms could cost school districts millions of dollars as they scramble to set up tutoring and transportation programs for students this fall to begin preparing them for the tests.

Education Undersecretary Eugene Hickock said administration officials have worked with their local counterparts to understand the hurdles that they face in implementing the new rules.

“We have tried and continued to make sure we’re listening every bit that we’re talking,” he said. “We’re mindful of the management challenges out there; on the other hand, we’re very mindful of the intent and spirit of the law.”

Dan Fuller, director of federal programs for the National School Board Association, said his organization was in the process of examining the final regulations.

“They got them out of there in a timely manner, and we’re happy about that,” he said. “This gives states and local school boards the opportunity to fine-tune and continue implementing the (law). School boards are looking forward to working with states and the federal government to continue improving education.”