Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon today in Indianapolis praised the hard work of students and educators in raising state test scores and meeting Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind. He also discussed the Differentiated Accountability Program pilot, which will allow states--after meeting four specific eligibility requirements--to design a more nuanced system to distinguish between schools in need of dramatic intervention and those that are closer to meeting goals. The new pilot will assist states by helping target resources and interventions to those schools most in need of intensive interventions and significant reform.

"No Child Left Behind changed our national conversation on education forever," Deputy Secretary Simon said. "Instead of questioning whether or not all students can learn, thanks to No Child Left Behind, we're finally beginning to make sure that every child is learning. We see that right here in Indiana where educators and administrators deserve a lot of credit for developing a strong, transparent reporting system, and for being among the first to develop an online system to track school performance. Now it's time to build on this momentum by addressing the challenges the law has helped to uncover. The Differentiated Accountability Program pilot will help states assist those schools where the need is the greatest. Our goal is to work with the states to help raise achievement, and this new pilot, we feel, does just that.

"While Indiana has made steady academic progress over the past decade," Deputy Secretary Simon said, "there is still work to be done. Currently, the state only requires two years of both math and science for graduation. Research shows that's not enough to be competitive in college and today's global economy. And we're happy to see that the state also realizes it needs to do more in this area. As a result, beginning with the class of 2011, students must complete three years of both math and science before graduating.

"We must make sure that states have the flexibility to improve struggling schools and more accurate ways to measure dropout rates," Deputy Secretary Simon said. "And we must make sure that students who need extra help can access free tutoring."

To view Mapping Indiana's Educational Progress 2008, please visit www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/progress/in.html.

For Mapping America's Educational Progress 2008, visit http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/progress/nation.html.

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