The Obama Administration has awarded seven more waivers to states for flexibility from certain provisions of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Waivers were recently granted to Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. As a condition of accepting the waiver, states have promised to adopt college- and career-ready standards, as well as teacher and principal evaluations that use multiple measures, including student outcomes.

This round of awards brings the total number of granted waivers to 33. Since Congress has failed to update the outdated Elementary and Secondary Education Act, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told principals  at last week’s NAESP National Leaders Conference that the flexibility waivers were the Department of Education’s “plan B.” Students and educators needed relief from the punitive sanctions of NCLB before the start of the next school year.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont (request withdrawn), West Virginia and Wyoming have not requested waivers. You can find all the details on waiver requests here.