JEFFERSON CITY • Missouri's state board of education gave its approval Tuesday for officials to submit the state's application for flexibility in the No Child Left Behind law.

The federal law calls for all students to be proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. Last year, less than 18 percent of districts in Missouri met the required yearly goals.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is offering states the opportunity to request flexibility from certain accountability provisions. States seeking waivers are required to focus on improving schools that score in the lowest 5 percent and those with the widest achievement gaps. But the application also requires states to make certain reforms, including changing teacher evaluations to partly include performance of their students.

The Missouri board's decision allows the state to submit the waiver application with minor edits by next Tuesday, the deadline for the second round of requests. This month, all 11 states that applied in the first round received approval.

The Illinois State Board of Education also approved its waiver application Tuesday. If a state's application is approved, schools there could see changes in requirements under No Child Left Behind as soon as 2012-13.