Education Secretary Arne Duncan on April 24 revoked the state of Washington’s No Child Left Behind waiver after the state failed to tie teacher evaluations to student results on state exams.

Gov. Jay Inslee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn proposed legislation earlier this year that would have brought the state into compliance, but the state Legislature shot it down.

Under current statute, schools can use classroom-based, district-based or statewide exams for the purpose of teacher evaluation.

Washington is the first state to lose its waiver from the law. Arizona, Kansas and Oregon could also lose their waivers over the issue of teacher evaluation.

While Inslee and Dorn lamented the loss, Washington Education Association President Kim Mead praised the Legislature for its stance.

“WEA believes the Washington Legislature did the right thing last session when it rejected U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s inflexible and bureaucratic demands,” Mead wrote in a statement. “Republicans and Democrats alike saw that Duncan’s failed federal mandates would have done nothing to help Washington’s kids or their teachers, but rather would impose broken federal law on our students.”

Education Week, April 30
Politico, April 24