WASHINGTON – With an overwhelming show of support, the Senate has passed and sent to President Barack Obama a massive education bill that would return to the states significant control over school accountability and testing.
Obama was expected to sign it.
The bill would continue federally mandated reading and math exams in grades three to eight and once in high school, but the high stakes associated with those exams for underperforming schools would be diminished. States would be encouraged to set caps on overall testing.
States and local districts would be able to determine how to assess school and teacher performance.
The bill would bar the federal government from mandating or encouraging specific academic standards, like Common Core.
The measure would replace the long outdated No Child Left Behind law of 2002.
