(WASHINGTON) -- President Barack Obama is set to outline an education plan allowing states to opt out of segments of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law. The goal is to energize school improvement at the local level. The law has grown increasingly unpopular as more schools risk being labeled failures.

Monty Meill, executive director of FairTest, an education advocacy group, explains how the Obama administration's changes to No Child Left Behind will work. "This will relieve the states from having to take far more actions on schools than they have the capacity to do and will relieve the pressure - some of the pressure - to keep boosting the test scores.

Lou Fabrizio, federal liaison for the Department of Public Instruction, said North Carolina will apply for the relief.