Still no answer . . .

On Friday, another five states were granted a waiver from the provisions of NCLB.  There are now 13 states that have applied that are still waiting for an answer with Washington being one of those 13.  What makes one of the last five interesting is that Virginia did not sign on to the Common Core, something that all of us thought was a requirement for a successful application.  You can read more about it in this Education Week article.

I also learned from the article that states that have not yet applied or that do not receive an answer by the start of the school year can request a one-year freeze on their AMO requirements.  So far only one state's application, Iowa, has been refused.  I'm still not sure that we meet the department's standard in the teacher evaluation category or in the interventions for schools that don't make adequate yearly progress over time.  My sense is that negotiations are taking place between OSPI and the federal education department over these two components of the waiver process and these negotiations are not easy.  Will it be yes, no, or back to the bargaining table?