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Obama Announces Changes To No Child Left Behind Law

President Obama is citing the success of Massachusetts schools to demonstrate his reasons for a planned rollback of some provisions outlined in the No Child Left Behind Act.

The president pointed to Ricci Hall, the principal of the University Park Campus School in Worcester, where all of the high school graduates in the last three years have gone to college.

"Because Ricci's school didn't meet all of the technical standards of No Child Left Behind, his school was labeled a failure last year. That's not right. That needs to change," Obama said Friday. "What we're doing today will encourage the progress of schools like Ricci's."

Obama says the new changes will give unprecedented flexibility to opt-out of basic elements of the Bush-era law under certain conditions.

The president said he is moving ahead with the waivers because Congress has failed to answer his call to rewrite the law.

"Congress hasn't been able to do it, so I will. Our kids only get one shot at a decent education. They cannot afford to wait any longer."

Republicans are questioning whether the Obama administration has the authority to grant exceptions to the law.

This program aired on September 23, 2011. The audio for this program is not available.

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