Montana's superintendent of public instruction says she plans to ask the federal government for a waiver to allow the state to test students based on the new Common Core state education standards, rather than based on the "No Child Left Behind" law.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports Denise Juneau told the state Board of Regents on Wednesday that she doesn't want students to have to take both standardized tests.

She notes that all schools will fail to reach the federal NCLB goal of all students being 100 percent proficient in reading and math.

Juneau said she wants students to take the Smarter Balance test, which lines up with the Common Core standards. The standards clearly explain what is expected of students at each grade level and the curriculum requires critical thinking rather than memorization.

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