WASHINGTON (AP) — Calling it a "Christmas miracle," President Barack Obama signed a sweeping overhaul of the No Child Left Behind education law on Thursday, ushering in a new approach to accountability, teacher evaluations and the way the most poorly performing schools are pushed to improve.
Joined by lawmakers, students and teachers in a White House auditorium, Obama praised the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind for having the right goals. He said that in practice, it fell short or applied a cookie-cutter approach that failed to produce desired results. Under the new law, the federal government will shift more decision-making powers back to states.
BOSTON — Proponents of two ballot initiatives aimed at reforming Massachusetts public education dropped off boxes of signed petitions to Secretary of State William Galvin's office on Wednesday.
Sponsors of measures that would expand the number of public charter schools and prevent the state from continuing to rely on federal Common Core educational standards each said they had submitted more than the 64,750 certified signatures required to move the proposals forward.
