U.S. Senate Votes to Replace No Child Left Behind

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill replacing the much-criticized No Child Left Behind law.

The legislation, known as the Every Student Succeeds Act, returns much of the control of education policy to the states.

Wyoming Education Association President Kathy Vetter says the past 14 years of No Child Left Behind meant too many tests, and overly severe consequences for schools where students didn't score high enough on the exams.

"No Child Left Behind was a one-size-fits-all, test-and-punish type of bill," said Vetter. "This one decreases the amount of standardized testing, and it decouples that high-stakes decision-making from those standardized tests."

The new bill gives states the power to determine how much weight to give test scores when evaluating teachers.  And for the first time, states will be required to evaluate schools on how well they support students in other ways.

The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed its version of the Every Student Succeeds Act last week.  The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who has indicated he will sign it.