In order to move forward with State and local reforms designed to improve academic achievement and increase the quality of instruction for all students in a manner that was not originally contemplated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), a State educational agency (SEA) may request flexibility, on its own behalf and on behalf of its local educational agencies (LEAs), through waivers of ten provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and their associated regulatory, administrative, and reporting requirements. In order to receive this flexibility, an SEA must meet the principles described in the next section. Terms that are defined in the Definitions section of this document are in bold type the first time they appear. This document was originally issued on September 23, 2011. It has been updated to include two optional waivers that have been added to ESEA flexibility since that time and to reflect the implementation timeline for an SEA that requests this flexibility at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.