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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Colorado is now freed from the federal performance ratings of No Child Left Behind, after receiving a waiver from the Obama Administration Thursday.

The goal of the 2002 law is for all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

But the required testing often made it difficult to meet the "adequate yearly progress" goals.

"All of NCLB is based on measuring how this year's 4th graders did to last year's 4th graders. That's a totally irrelevant question to me as a parent, totally irrelevant to a 4th grader, and it's a lousy way to measure success or failure," U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said.

Colorado is one of 10 states to receive a wavier, an announcement that gives educators the flexibility to use independent models of accountability.

The Student Growth Model is an evaluation Colorado has been using since 2009.

"It allows us to do what D-11 has been trying to do, which is narrow and focus on student achievement their performance and growth." Jeanice Swift, Asst. Superintendent of Instruction and Curriculum for D-11, said. "We not only measure performance, we actually measure how students grow."

But besides measuring a student's growth over time, Bennet believes we need to focus on giving students equal access to education.

Something that isn't happening right now.

"If you're a child living in poverty in the U.S. you're chances of getting a degree are nine in 100," Sen. Bennet said.

Colorado's NCLB waiver is a great way for educators to show students of all economic backgrounds achieving with the state's model of accountability.