Christie Embraces Education Law Waiver [VIDEO]

New Jersey officials are heralding the Obama Administration's decision to waive requirements for the state for the No Child Left Behind education law and instead pursue other reform measures.

New Jersey was one of 11 states that received the federal waiver on Thursday.

Gov. Chris Christie says the decision frees the state to work on needed improvements to schools, particularly in cities. The state plans to start intervention efforts for the 15 percent of schools that are lowest-performing and to publish new ratings for all schools.

And the top-performing schools will be eligible for extra state funding.

New Jersey has already started testing a new system to evaluate teachers and joined a nationwide effort to adopt uniform standards for what students are expected to be taught.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Video by Dino Flammia