22.1-253.13:3 - Standard 3. Accreditation, other standards and evaluation - Virginia Statutes

§ 22.1-253.13:3. Standard 3. Accreditation, other standards and evaluation.

A. The Board of Education shall promulgate regulations establishing standardsfor accreditation pursuant to the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 etseq.), which shall include, but not be limited to, student outcome measures,requirements and guidelines for instructional programs and for theintegration of educational technology into such instructional programs,administrative and instructional staffing levels and positions, includingstaff positions for supporting educational technology, student services,auxiliary education programs such as library and media services, course andcredit requirements for graduation from high school, community relations, andthe philosophy, goals, and objectives of public education in Virginia.

The Board shall review annually the accreditation status of all schools inthe Commonwealth.

Each local school board shall maintain schools that are fully accreditedpursuant to the standards for accreditation as prescribed by the Board ofEducation. Each local school board shall review the accreditation status ofall schools in the local school division annually in public session. Withinthe time specified by the Board of Education, each school board shall submitcorrective action plans for any schools within its school division that havebeen designated as not meeting the standards as approved by the Board.

When the Board of Education has obtained evidence through the school academicreview process that the failure of schools within a division to achieve fullaccreditation status is related to division level failure to implement theStandards of Quality, the Board may require a division level academic review.After the conduct of such review and within the time specified by the Boardof Education, each school board shall submit for approval by the Board acorrective action plan, consistent with criteria established by the Board andsetting forth specific actions and a schedule designed to ensure that schoolswithin its school division achieve full accreditation status. Such correctiveaction plans shall be part of the relevant school division's comprehensiveplan pursuant to § 22.1-253.13:6.

With such funds as are appropriated or otherwise received for this purpose,the Board shall adopt and implement an academic review process, to beconducted by the Department of Education, to assist schools that areaccredited with warning. The Department shall forward a report of eachacademic review to the relevant local school board, and such school boardshall report the results of such academic review and the required annualprogress reports in public session. The local school board shall implementany actions identified through the academic review and utilize them forimprovement planning.

B. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop and the Board ofEducation shall approve criteria for determining and recognizing educationalperformance in the Commonwealth's public school divisions and schools. Suchcriteria, when approved, shall become an integral part of the accreditationprocess and shall include student outcome measurements. The Superintendent ofPublic Instruction shall annually identify to the Board those schooldivisions and schools that exceed or do not meet the approved criteria. Suchidentification shall include an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses ofpublic education programs in the various school divisions in Virginia andrecommendations to the General Assembly for further enhancing studentlearning uniformly across the Commonwealth. In recognizing educationalperformance in the school divisions, the Board shall include consideration ofspecial school division accomplishments, such as numbers of dual enrollmentsand students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses,and participation in academic year Governor's Schools.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall assist local school boards inthe implementation of action plans for increasing educational performance inthose school divisions and schools that are identified as not meeting theapproved criteria. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall monitor theimplementation of and report to the Board of Education on the effectivenessof the corrective actions taken to improve the educational performance insuch school divisions and schools.

C. With such funds as are available for this purpose, the Board of Educationshall prescribe assessment methods to determine the level of achievement ofthe Standards of Learning objectives by all students. Such assessments shallevaluate knowledge, application of knowledge, critical thinking, and skillsrelated to the Standards of Learning being assessed. The Board shall (i) inconsultation with the chairpersons of the eight regional superintendents'study groups, establish a timetable for administering the Standards ofLearning assessments to ensure genuine end-of-course and end-of-grade testingand (ii) with the assistance of independent testing experts, conduct aregular analysis and validation process for these assessments.

In prescribing such Standards of Learning assessments, the Board shallprovide local school boards the option of administering tests for UnitedStates History to 1877, United States History: 1877 to the Present, andCivics and Economics. The last administration of the cumulative grade eighthistory test will be during the 2007-2008 academic school year. Beginningwith the 2008-2009 academic year, all school divisions shall administer theUnited States History to 1877, United States History: 1877 to the Present,and Civics and Economics tests. The Board shall also provide the option ofindustry certification and state licensure examinations as a student-selectedverified credit.

The Board of Education shall make publicly available such assessments in atimely manner and as soon as practicable following the administration of suchtests, so long as the release of such assessments does not compromise testsecurity or deplete the bank of assessment questions necessary to constructsubsequent tests, or limit the ability to test students on demand and provideimmediate results in the web-based assessment system.

The Board shall include in the student outcome measures that are required bythe Standards for Accreditation end-of-course or end-of-grade tests forvarious grade levels and classes, as determined by the Board, in accordancewith the Standards of Learning. These Standards of Learning assessments shallinclude, but need not be limited to, end-of-course or end-of-grade tests forEnglish, mathematics, science, and history and social science.

In addition, to assess the educational progress of students, the Board ofEducation shall (i) develop appropriate assessments, which may includecriterion-referenced tests and alternative assessment instruments that may beused by classroom teachers; (ii) select appropriate industry certificationand state licensure examinations and (iii) prescribe and provide measures,which may include nationally normed tests to be used to identify students whoscore in the bottom quartile at selected grade levels. An annualjustification that includes evidence that the student meets the participationcriteria defined by the Virginia Department of Education shall be providedfor each student considered for the Virginia Grade Level Alternative. EachIndividual Education Program team shall review such justification and makethe final determination as to whether or not the Virginia Grade LevelAlternative is appropriate for the student. The superintendent and the schoolboard chairman shall certify to the Board of Education, as a part ofcertifying compliance with the Standards of Quality, that there is ajustification in the Individual Education Program for every student who takesthe Virginia Grade Level Alternative. Compliance with this requirement shallbe monitored as a part of the special education monitoring process conductedby the Department of Education. The Board shall report to the Governor andGeneral Assembly in its annual reports pursuant to § 22.1-18 any schooldivision that is not in compliance with this requirement.

The Standard of Learning requirements, including all related assessments,shall be waived for any student awarded a scholarship under the Brown v.Board of Education Scholarship Program, pursuant to § 30-231.2, who isenrolled in a preparation program for the General Education Development (GED)certificate or in an adult basic education program to obtain the high schooldiploma.

The Board of Education may adopt special provisions related to theadministration and use of any SOL test or tests in a content area as appliedto accreditation ratings for any period during which the SOL content orassessments in that area are being revised and phased in. Prior to statewideadministration of such tests, the Board of Education shall provide notice tolocal school boards regarding such special provisions.

D. The Board of Education may pursue all available civil remedies pursuant to§ 22.1-19.1 or administrative action pursuant to § 22.1-292.1 for breaches intest security and unauthorized alteration of test materials or test results.

The Board may initiate or cause to be initiated a review or investigation ofany alleged breach in security, unauthorized alteration, or improperadministration of tests by local school board employees responsible for thedistribution or administration of the tests.

Records and other information furnished to or prepared by the Board duringthe conduct of a review or investigation may be withheld pursuant tosubdivision 12 of § 2.2-3705.3. However, this section shall not prohibit thedisclosure of records to (i) a local school board or division superintendentfor the purpose of permitting such board or superintendent to consider or totake personnel action with regard to an employee or (ii) any requester, afterthe conclusion of a review or investigation, in a form that (a) does notreveal the identity of any person making a complaint or supplying informationto the Board on a confidential basis and (b) does not compromise the securityof any test mandated by the Board. Any local school board or divisionsuperintendent receiving such records or other information shall, upon takingpersonnel action against a relevant employee, place copies of such records orinformation relating to the specific employee in such person's personnel file.

Notwithstanding any other provision of state law, no test or examinationauthorized by this section, including the Standards of Learning assessments,shall be released or required to be released as minimum competency tests, if,in the judgment of the Board, such release would breach the security of suchtest or examination or deplete the bank of questions necessary to constructfuture secure tests.

E. With such funds as may be appropriated, the Board of Education mayprovide, through an agreement with vendors having the technical capacity andexpertise to provide computerized tests and assessments, and testconstruction, analysis, and security, for (i) web-based computerized testsand assessments for the evaluation of student progress during and afterremediation and (ii) the development of a remediation item bank directlyrelated to the Standards of Learning.

F. To assess the educational progress of students as individuals and asgroups, each local school board shall require the use of Standards ofLearning assessments and other relevant data, such as industry certificationand state licensure examinations, to evaluate student progress and todetermine educational performance. Each local school shall require theadministration of appropriate assessments to all students for grade levelsand courses identified by the Board of Education, which may includecriterion-referenced tests, teacher-made tests and alternative assessmentinstruments and shall include the Standards of Learning Assessments and theNational Assessment of Educational Progress state-by-state assessment. Eachschool board shall analyze and report annually, in compliance with anycriteria that may be established by the Board of Education, the results fromthe Stanford Achievement Test Series, Ninth Edition (Stanford Nine)assessment, if administered, industry certification examinations, and theStandards of Learning Assessments to the public.

The Board of Education shall not require administration of the StanfordAchievement Test Series, Ninth Edition (Stanford Nine) assessment, except asmay be selected to facilitate compliance with the requirements for homeinstruction pursuant to § 22.1-254.1.

The Board shall include requirements for the reporting of the Standards ofLearning assessment scores and averages for each year as part of the Board'srequirements relating to the School Performance Report Card. Such scoresshall be disaggregated for each school by student subgroups on the Virginiaassessment program as appropriate and shall be reported to the public withinthree months of their receipt. These reports (i) shall be posted on theportion of the Department of Education's website relating to the SchoolPerformance Report Card, in a format and in a manner that allows year-to-yearcomparisons, and (ii) may include the National Assessment of EducationalProgress state-by-state assessment.

G. Each local school division superintendent shall regularly review thedivision's submission of data and reports required by state and federal lawand regulations to ensure that all information is accurate and submitted in atimely fashion. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall provide a listof the required reports and data to division superintendents annually. Thestatus of compliance with this requirement shall be included in the Board ofEducation's annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly asrequired by § 22.1-18.

(1988, cc. 645, 682; 1990, cc. 820, 839; 1992, c. 591; 1998, cc. 456, 567,602, 627, 843, 902; 1999, cc. 670, 731, 1015; 2000, cc. 504, 735, 742, 750,752, 867, 1061; 2001, cc. 651, 731; 2002, cc. 101, 167, 656, 732; 2003, cc.691, 1004; 2004, cc. 472, 939, 955, 965; 2005, cc. 331, 450, 753, 834; 2006,cc. 25, 38, 95, 117, 131; 2007, c. 234; 2009, c. 825; 2010, c. 76.)