RICHMOND — The Virginia Board of Education has no plans to delay the implementation of the new accountability framework to determine if students and schools are meeting state expectations, after school board chairs from Northern Virginia, representing a third of school divisions in the commonwealth, signed a letter making that request last month.
“We have to do what we have to do to get our students prepared for life beyond the walls of our schools,” said board president Grace Creasey, who is, like most of the board’s members, an appointee of Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
She added that other school board members around the commonwealth have supported moving forward. Her colleague, Vice President Bill Hansen, added that the board should continue to push forward.
“Our system has to change for the benefit of our students and our families, and frankly, for our schools, which are pillars in the community, and so I really look forward to moving this process ahead,” Hansen said.
According to Todd Reid, a spokesman for VDOE, any changes to the new accountability system would require a regulatory change by the board, which is a lengthy and involved process.
During the summer, the state’s board of education approved the new accountability framework, which has been in the works for two years and overhauled the existing system.
The new framework is intended to depict how schools are meeting all requirements set by state laws and regulations, and provide “timely” and “transparent” information on student and school performance, according to the VDOE.
VDOE doubled down on its plans Monday, and staff reported that the agency had offered multiple training sessions for superintendents, school division leaders, and counselors.
Over 73 participants from 55 of the total 131 school divisions have participated in two office hour sessions, which are ongoing on Wednesdays, and 40 individual technical assistance sessions.
On Nov. 8, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration announced the launch of an additional resource, the digital Roadmap to Readiness Hub, designed to improve student and school performance.
“Our students cannot wait another year. That’s why earlier this month, Gov. Youngkin took a significant step forward in addressing the needs of Virginia’s students and public schools with the release of the Roadmap to Readiness, a comprehensive online resource hub that provides parents, teachers, school leaders, and communities with a robust set of supports, resources, and transparent data to inform decision making,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the governor, in a statement on Monday. “Since the start of the administration, we continue to raise expectations for every child and put systems in place that will make a measurable difference in students’ lives now, not years from now.”
According to a Nov. 18 letter, signed by eight school board chairs from the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William and the cities of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church and Manassas, the group urged the administration to delay implementation of the accountability framework despite the rollout of the resource hub and the pending review by the U.S. Department of Education’s review of Virginia’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan.
The plan’s full implementation is slated to begin at the start of the next school year.
“We want to be good partners with the state in our shared mission to foster the success of each and every student; however, we are concerned that school divisions have not been provided that appropriate amount of time to address the new accountability requirements the commonwealth has established,” the chairs wrote.
The framework was established after their divisions “planned, budgeted and staffed” for the current school year and students had already selected their courses, the chairs wrote.
With a quarter of the school year passed, the chairs said that many of the framework’s measures “have still not yet been fully defined,” and that detailed modeling has not been shared with school divisions. The chairs also said Virginia has not identified the types of support it will provide to schools needing improvement and secured the necessary related funding.
The chairs recommended the state education board “reinstate student knowledge growth and alternative measurement alongside mastery as key framework components.”
They also recommended the department clearly explain and test all the components of the framework’s calculations, and clarify and publicly vet the components and intent of any agreement that will be required for low-performing schools or school divisions.
The letter urged the board to prioritize an immediate increase in appropriated funding for any school identified as “Off Track” or “In Need of Support,” as well as for comprehensive professional development related to the new framework for all school divisions based on their actual number of instructional full-time employees.
Under the accountability system, schools are given one of four labels based on their performance: “Distinguished,” “On track,” “Off Track,” and “Needs Intensive Support.”
Schools considered “distinguished” are those that exceed the state’s expectations for growth, achievement and readiness, while those that need “intensive support” do not meet any of the state’s expectations. In addition, “on-track” and “off-track” descriptors indicate whether schools are generally meeting expectations or not.
Prior to the board’s work session on Monday, the Virginia Education Association, the largest organization representing teachers and school employees, published a webpage stating the system is a “problem” and suggesting lawmakers could delay the implementation through legislation.
“Virginia’s families, educators, and students deserve an accountability system that supports growth and improvement – not one that stigmatizes schools without addressing the root causes of their challenges,” VEA said in a statement. “We urge lawmakers to act swiftly in 2025 to delay this system and lay the groundwork for an approach that works for everyone.”
Board member Anne Holton, former Virginia Secretary of Education, said it’s helpful that staff is providing tools to help educators and school staff get up to speed on how to put the new standards into practice, but providing a clear explanation of the process is also key for school boards and parents.
“I am absolutely confident they have asked for a delay because they want to do the very best by all of our students and because they want to be able to support their teachers,” Holton said. “They may see that differently than you, but it’s not because they want to cover up problems. They are in the field every day trying to get the very best education to all of our kids, and I have complete confidence in our school division leaders as to their motivation, whether or not they agree with you as to the mechanics of how we implement all of this.”
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