U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told state superintendents that they will have more room to comply with the law providing that their efforts are aimed at improving student achievement, hiring highly qualified teachers, and closing the achievement gap between minority and white students.

So what does that mean for Utah, which has led a nationwide rebellion against the measure's mandates?

It means state officials welcome the flexibility, but there is not enough of it - yet.

"We have achieved some of our objectives, but not all," said Tim Bridgewater, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s education deputy, who was in Washington for the announcement. "I expect a robust discussion on the remaining issues [today] and next week."

Sen. Orrin Hatch's office issued a statement Thursday saying Spellings would visit Utah April 15.

Despite the promise of ongoing negotiations, state lawmakers say they intend to proceed with an April 19-20 special session to consider a bill to put Utah-designed standards ahead of NCLB requirements. The Utah measure says the state will comply with NCLB as long as it doesn't conflict with state education priorities or require state dollars.

"We're hoping to hear from states that have ideas they want to try, and we want to encourage their creativity and innovation," said Kerri Briggs, a senior policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Education.

Bridgewater and other state officials are still angling for concessions on how to measure school quality, teacher-quality standards in rural districts, and teachers for incarcerated youth - and how to hold schools accountable for academic achievement among English learners.

Some lawmakers worry that the changes Spellings announced Thursday don't go far enough.

"I'm encouraged that [Spellings] is listening to states, but I don't think that has any bearing on our special session," said Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, who sponsored bills challenging the law the past two general sessions. "They [the feds] are still involved in a state's rights issue. They're in the wrong arena."

The bill has overwhelming support in both houses, and Huntsman probably will sign it if it passes, Bridgewater said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman Susan Aspey declined to speculate on how the department would respond if the bill passes.

Meanwhile, Bridgewater applauded Spellings' concessions on standards of special education.

"We have won [that] battle," he declared. "We think that will dramatically change the number of schools that meet" NCLB standards for student progress.

rlynn@sltrib.com

A little easier to swallow

The U.S. Department of Education's concessions to make No Child Left Behind standards more acceptable to states:

l Schools will be allowed to test up to 2 percent of special-education students at their ability level rather than their grade level - as long as the test covers core subjects. This is in addition to the 1 percent of students with serious cognitive disabilities who are allowed to take an alternative assessment. "This new approach recognizes that these children should not all be treated alike," Secretary Margaret Spellings told superintendents Thursday.

l The department is setting aside $14 million to help schools identify and test students with disabilities.

l The department will consider states' proposals to measure school quality based on students' academic growth from one year to the next. The law currently measures school quality based on the percentage of students who pass state tests each year.

Differences between Utah accountability standards and NCLB standards:

* The Utah Performance Assessment System for Students (U-PASS) measures school quality based on the percentage of students who pass state tests in language arts, math and science, as well as the percentage of students who make a year's worth of progress each year. It tracks individual students from one year to the next and holds schools accountable for their growth.

l NCLB measures school quality by the percentage of students in each demographic group who pass state tests - the same ones used in U-PASS - each year. Schools must make annual progress toward 100 percent proficiency in language arts and math for all students, regardless of ethnicity, primary language, family income or disability.

l Under NCLB, schools face public scrutiny, and in some cases sanctions, if they miss their annual targets for two consecutive years.