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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Office of Education says it has better plans for students, parents and teachers than what was mandated under the federal "No Child Left Behind" program.
With the "Comprehensive Accountability System," the state now has more control of how students learn.
Associate Superintendent Brenda Hales says the 10-year-old federal program wouldn't allow Utah to better pinpoint struggling schools, or pull certain resources from schools that had too many. She said No Child Left Behind also misidentified real progress.
"Some of those provisions were actually coloring in an inaccurate way some schools, and also not identifying schools that we thought needed help," she said.
Hales says Utah's program eliminates federal redundancies so teachers aren't so restricted.
"Kids all come in different sizes, shapes and abilities," she said. "So it lets you know where students started and where they ended up."
Hales adds that academic performance won't be strictly measured on a pass-fail basis. Utah's program will measure student achievement individually and with their classmates.
Utah is one of many states that got a waiver to leave "No Child Left Behind."
