Congressional negotiators have struck a tentative deal to replace No Child Left Behind, the main federal K-12 education law, by shifting authority for schools to states and freeing them from many federal demands that have been in place for 13 years.

The deal largely follows the contours of a measure passed by the Senate with strong bipartisan support in July, according to several sources briefed on the agreement who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss closed-door negotiations.

And it plucked a few ideas from a bill passed by House Republicans in July, including the elimination of some programs that were deemed ineffective by the federal government or had never been funded.

The agreement maintains the federal requirement that states test students annually in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, and publicly report the scores according to race, income, ethnicity, disability and whether students are English-language learners. It also requires states to intervene in schools where student test scores are in the lowest five percent, where achievement gaps are greatest, and in high schools where fewer than 67 percent of students graduate on time.

Under the proposal, states and not the federal government would determine what actions to take, and states would set goals and timelines for academic progress. Their plans would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

The negotiators – staffers for House and Senate committee chairmen and ranking members – think the deal straddles the differences between Republicans, who want to dramatically reduce the federal role in education, and Democrats and the Obama administration, who insist the federal government has a duty to make sure states educate all children, especially those who have been historically underserved.

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