|
The Virginia Board of Education met on November 16 and 17. The work session on November 16 provided an update on the Virginia Literacy Act, a thorough presentation on accountability, and a deep discussion around next steps for Virginia's accountability system. If you have the time to do so, we recommend you spend time viewing some of the posted videos of the work session with particular attention to the presentation on accountability as well as the board's dialogue regarding next steps and a timeline for our accountability system.
Because the work session was long, we find it helpful to change the playback speed to x1.5 or even x2.0 (access playback speed by clicking the settings wheel in the video's toolbar). If you simply do not have time to watch any portion of the videos, the PPTs linked below are well worth your time to review (particularly the Considerations for Updating Virginia's School Accountability System).
Work Session
Work Session Highlights
Work Session: The presentation from the Alliance for Excellent Education (all4ed) was a thorough analysis of accountability in Virginia and other systems in the nation. The board, along with Superintendent Balow, then engaged in dialogue regarding next steps for a Virginia during the agenda item for presentation of the timeline. In the discussion on accountability, Superintendent Balow proposed that the new system be developed immediately under emergency rule-making procedures for implementation in the 2022-2023 school year. President Gecker directed the Department to develop a draft for the board to review and respond versus the board creating the system from scratch.
Business Meeting
Business Meeting Highlights
During the public comment period of the Business Meeting, there was an overwhelming number of speakers rejecting the updated revised history standards and recommending the board to accept the version submitted in August 2022.
First Draft and Review of the Item I: 2022 First Review of the Proposed Revised 2022 History and Social Science Standards of Learning. There were several edits and exchange of versions of Item I over the past two days, and we do not have access to what the board was ultimately working from. The board did not accept the proposed revisions for first review and instead directed the board to combine the August and November versions to create the best of both documents and provide an explicit crosswalk. The product will be presented for first review at the next scheduled board meeting (early February) or a specially-called meeting if ready prior to; the board is not prepared to accept first review and move the standards as currently drafted to the public.
Here is our best transcription of the motion that was made, seconded, and voted on:
- Incorporate "de-coupled" August draft and the November draft along with public comment and feedback received
- Correct errors and omissions
- Provide a crosswalk that includes a comparison to the 2015 standards
- Communicate in a timely manner with a transparent process
HERE is an article from The Richmond Times-Dispatch published just after 9pm on Thursday.
Item L: Final Review of a Proposal to Adopt Special Provisions Regarding the Determination of the Performance Level for the Chronic Absenteeism Indicator in Accreditation Years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025. This provision removes the 2021-2022 Chronic Absenteeism from accreditation calculations in accountability years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025.
Item N: Discussion on Considerations to Revise Cut Scores on Grades 3-8 Math and Reading Standards of Learning. This was not a decision-item on the agenda and involved both a presentation and subsequent conversation without closure but for the continuation of more information, along with a request for information from the HB 938 work group (LINK, 9:37.14 - 10:19.23).
The SUPERINTENDENT'S UPDATE (PDF) contained information from Superintendent Balow on NAEP Scores, Timeline for accreditation and accountability, Emergency rule-making, Proficiency scores, and History and Social Science Standards. We recommend giving this a read.
| 
