Idaho, California, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska are waiting for approval from the U.S. Department of Education on its request to bypass some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind, which was implemented during the Bush administration, according to a story in the Idaho Statesman.

Some 30 states have been granted waivers and about a dozen have not asked for one. The Obama administration has been granting waivers on how to achieve the proficiency ratings required in the act to states that present alternatives considered adequate to meet the law's standards of achieving a certain reading and math level by 2014.

Tom Luna, state superintendent of public instruction, says Idaho's five-star rating system is a complex alternative to the federal law, but he feels it is a better measure of student progress.