Maryland on Tuesday became the first state in the Washington area to receive a pardon from the federal No Child Left Behind law, joining 18 other states that have sought relief from the law’s stringent — and allegedly unrealistic — benchmarks for student achievement.

The U.S. Department of Education is still reviewing waiver applications from Virginia and the District, as well as 16 other states. Eight of the 26 applications for waivers from No Child Left Behind, which requires 100 percent of students to be proficient in math and reading by 2014, were approved Tuesday in addition to the 11 that already received waivers.