The Policy Team of VASCD is committed to elevating teaching and deepening learning through advocacy work as well as strong relationships with legislators and policymakers. VASCD consistently advances a policy agenda that elevates the education profession and prioritizes the well-being and success of students. Within this broader context, VASCD identifies focus areas that represent specific concerns within our areas of expertise. This year we have six priorities.

Our six policy priorities are:

• Unified Purpose and Clear Standards: Virginia's law and policy makers must clearly define the purpose of education to guide important decisions.
• Aligned System of Accountability: The system to which schools are held accountability must have coherence and alignment between the purpose, the standards, and the assessments.
• Modernizing Virginia's Assessment System: Virginia's student assessment system must support and align with today's student learning goals.
• Outstanding Educators for Virginia's Students: We must elevate the profession and champion autonomy with integrity from policy to the practitioner.
• Personalized Learning Opportunities for Educators: Educators must have relevant, competency-based professional learning opportunities.
• Guidance for Use of AI in Education: All of Virginia's stakeholders must have recommendations for implementation and appropriate guardrails for use of AI in classrooms.

On October 16, THIS REPORT was released by VDOE and contains recommendations from the House Bill 585 Work Group.

On initial glance:

The influence of VASCD's Assessment Summit Executive Summary is evident. One recommendation, however, recommends the removal of re-takes on standardized tests that are non-credit bearing. Expedited re-takes are written in the code and support a family's decision to allow a student to engage in re-testing on SOL assessments. Overall, the report reflects what we know about standardized tests and the need to modernize Virginia's assessment system.

Digging Deeper:

We will conduct a thorough analysis of the report and prepare a response letter in the coming days.

On October 18, the Virginia Board of Education met for its Executive and Work sessions. On October 1, VBOE met for its Business Meeting. Below are relevant links, highlights from both meetings, and relevant time stamps for video playback. As a pro tip, we recommend changing the playback speed to 1.5x or 1.75x.

Click HERE for the Agenda Page.

WORK SESSION (YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ8VUbgJJwo, starts at 4:32.46)

• The VBOE Prescriptions on SOQs. [Video timing 4:34.15-6:27.00]
• Draft of VBOE's Annual Report. Although this draft of the report is 21 pages in length, we recommend finding the time to read it in its entirety. If this is not possible, at least a thorough read of the Executive Summary (p. 4-5) and skimming the items with a direct impact on your role; another option if you are pressed for time is to review the presentation and discussion from the work session with 1.75x playback speed. [Video timing 7:27.39-7:46.05]
• Special Education Update. [Video timing 7:46.20-8:00.42]

BUSINESS MEETING (YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M4lUs3zJaM)

• Virginia Literacy Act Curriculum Review Process. [Video timing 1:11:18-1:31.40]