Congress has approved drastic changes to federal education policy, replacing the controversial “No Child Left Behind Act” passed 14 years ago. The senate approved the “Every Student Succeeds Act” on a bipartisan 85—12 vote Wednesday. The new law does away with strict standardized testing that was scorned by many local educators and makes states once again responsible for fixing under-performing school districts. Tennessee senator Lamar Alexander, a former University of Tennessee President and US Secretary of Education, led the reform effort in the senate. Alexander, a Maryville Republican, had pushed to return education standards to state and local control for 7 years. He says federal oversight of test standards actually created a backlash against reform.
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