Saying “Congress hasn’t been able to do it, so I will,” President Obama announced that he is waiving central provisions of the No Child Left Behind law, the signature education policy achievement of the George W. Bush Administration. Although the original bill passed Congress with bipartisan support, the law has since become controversial, with many charging that the program is too focused on standardized testing and that it intrudes too much on local control of education.

The May 2008 Congressional Digest, titled “No Child Left Behind Revisited,” covered the Pro & Con debate on the question “Should Congress Make Fundamental Changes in the No Child Left Behind Act?” The two sides’ failure to reach a compromise on the issue since that time is what prompted President Obama to move through Executive action to reform the law.

“The goals behind No Child Left Behind were admirable,” said the President in today’s White House remarks, “but experience has taught us that in its implementation, No Child Left Behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children.”

The Executive order that President Obama is signing allows States to waive certain parts of the law and come up with their own plans for improving students’ performance. It also scraps the requirement that every student pass State tests by the 2013–2014 school year.

“This does not mean that States will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability,” the President said. “In fact, the way we’ve structured this, if States want more flexibility, they’re going to have to set higher standards, more honest standards that prove they’re serious about meeting them.”

Predictably, the reaction to the President’s move has been mixed, with some welcoming the changes and others saying the Administration is assuming too much power.

To learn more, watch the President’s White House speech and read the Department of Education fact sheet on the case for flexibility in the Federal elementary and secondary education law.