Posted Monday, May 14, 2012 --- 7:40 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A federal review criticizes Wisconsin's application for flexibility under the federal No Child Left Behind law, saying the state's proposal for holding schools accountable is vague and deficient.

The U.S. Education Department wrote a letter to state education officials last month saying their waiver application had a number of deficiencies. The letter was released to the Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/JNSpxh ) in response to an open-records request.

The letter commended the state for planning a new set of academic standards and a new teacher-evaluation system. But it criticized the state for not detailing how it would implement the systems.

Patrick Gasper is with the state Department of Public Instruction. He says the DPI has been working with federal education officials to modify and resubmit the waiver application.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.