by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury

After a years-long input process, the Virginia Board of Education approved its newly designed Standards of Accreditation regulations on Thursday. These regulations simplify how schools are rated and allow the state to separate accountability from accreditation. 

A final vote on the accountability system is expected at next month’s board meeting. The accountability system includes Virginia’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, readiness indicators and weighting. 

“I’m really excited for what this new system provides for our students, for our parents, for our families, for our teachers [and] for our school divisions across the state,” said Board President Grace Creasey, who was appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “I think it absolutely contributes to increasing transparency and understanding the outcomes that our students are achieving, and how well our schools are ensuring students are having those positive outcomes for life beyond our schools.”

Under Gov. Youngkin’s direction, the board was tasked last year with separating the existing system because information about the quality of schools or student learning outcomes wasn’t clearly delineated, the repeal states. In addition, the existing system used the process for accrediting schools as an accountability system to “foster” school improvement, instead of fostering the establishment of effective school-level educational programs.

Under the list of regulation changes, schools would receive credit for seniors who earn an advanced studies, standard or applied studies diploma within six years and credit for helping students demonstrate college and career readiness.

The changes also include providing credit to schools for middle school students taking advanced coursework.

According to Chad Aldeman, the Edunomics Lab policy director at Georgetown University and a co-consultant on the redesign, a central theme of public comment about Virginia’s school system accreditation standards is the importance of transparency, high academic standards, and career and college readiness and pathways.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons said the public comment on the regulation changes, which ended on July 5, “shaped and developed” the proposed system. She said the system will help the commonwealth “focus on what schools need and provide the support that they need” to achieve a distinguished rating.

The department said out of the 34 total comments submitted, most were supportive of the regulations’ changes, including the revamped standards’ favoring student mastery in a school subject over growth and supporting a continued focus on chronic absenteeism, or students missing at least 18 days of instruction for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences.

Unlike other states, Virginia is proposing to raise the academic standards for English learners by including more students in the accountability calculations. English learners are typically excluded because some children are learning English for the first time and may need more time to grow in proficiency of the language. 

To meet that goal, more resources would likely be required to address the achievement gap.

The agency said the new rules would reduce the number of semesters English learners are excluded from the calculations, from 11 semesters to three. Approximately 35,000 students were excluded under the existing regulations.

Consultants said the change would help identify schools struggling to support students classified as English Learners and provide them with resources and services. According to VDOE, 1.5 years is the maximum allowed under federal law to exclude an English learner from accountability calculations. 

“As a former high school English teacher, I have seen the frustration of ELL students, many of whom have a second or third-grade English comprehension level being placed in a high school English class without any support,” said Shelly Norden, a director with the School Board Member Alliance. 

She said ELL students would often “give up” out of frustration.

Data collection on assessments will begin at the start of the 2024-25 school year, and full implementation will begin the following school year. The federal government’s adoption of the state ESSA plan is a vital part of the implementation.

According to Todd Reid, a spokesman with VDOE, Virginia is on track to submit its state plan to the U.S. Department of Education by the February deadline.

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