Feds ease Wyoming's education requirement

The U.S. Department of Education has granted Wyoming's request to freeze its goals for meeting federal education mandates. Without the relief from the No Child Left Behind Act, even Wyoming's highest performing schools would soon be labeled as failing. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 holds schools accountable to proficiency targets that increase annually until they reach 100%. At that point, every tested student is expected to score at or above proficient in every subject area on a state test by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. David Holbrook, of the state Education Department, says that freezing Wyoming's targets is a more reasonable measure than continuing on and using the targets that have been escalating over the years.