Congress authorizes rewrite of No Child Left Behind law

The U.S. Senate has approved a re-write of the controversial No Child Left Behind law that led to backlashes from parents and teachers because of its relentless focus on test scores.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan praised the bill, passed by the House by a wide margin last week, and President Barack Obama has indicated he will sign it.

The legislation rolls back testing mandates, but Georgia already requires more tests than the federal government. It will be up to state leaders to decide whether and how much testing is needed to hold schools and teachers accountable.