The Obama administration announced July 31 that five states — Delaware, Georgia, Minnesota, New York and South Carolina—have received a one-year extension for flexibility from certain provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind.

“America’s schools and classrooms are undergoing some of the largest changes in decades—changes that will help prepare our students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that tomorrow’s economy will require,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “These extensions will allow states to continue the critical work of implementing the bold reforms they developed to improve achievement for all students.”

ESEA has been due for Congressional reauthorization since 2007. In the absence of reauthorization, President Barack Obama announced in September 2011 that the administration would grant waivers from parts of the law to qualified states, in exchange for state-developed plans designed to improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, increase equity, and improve the quality of instruction. The one-year extension of ESEA flexibility allows the states to continue moving forward on the ambitious work they began with their initial flexibility requests.

Since fall 2011, Delaware, Georgia, Minnesota, New York and South Carolina have implemented education reforms that go far beyond the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s rigid, top-down requirements.

Minnesota is monitoring and providing direct feedback to districts and schools to continue improvement under ESEA flexibility through new Regional Centers of Excellence. Educators meet weekly for training and to share progress reports with a state oversight committee.

Minnesota has implemented a new system to provide data on non-academic risk factors to high schools to support improved graduation rates.

In order to receive an extension, states must demonstrate that they have resolved any state-specific issues and next steps as a result of the Department’s monitoring, as well as any other outstanding issues related to ESEA flexibility. States could also request additional amendments to support their continuous improvement efforts. The extension is through the 2014-2015 school year. The Department is reviewing requests from states for one-year extensions to ESEA flexibility on a rolling basis and anticipates approving additional extension requests over the next several weeks.