I write in support of the Revisions to the Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia.

The current combined accreditation and accountability system is not working. Despite the plunge in student achievement scores post-COVID, the overwhelming majority of Virginia’s schools are nonetheless deemed to be performing at the highest level. Families and communities need an honest and transparent accounting of school performance so that they can advocate for improvements within their schools.

I support the Framework’s emphasis on mastery over growth. While growth is important, it’s more important for students to achieve proficiency. I also support giving chronic absenteeism a meaningful weight in the performance measure. If we want students to progress academically, we need them to be at school. I also strongly support the inclusion of middle school advanced coursework in the performance measure, particularly for math. We want to incentivize schools to challenge students to their fullest potential. Lastly, it is important to hold schools accountable for newly arrived English Learners to ensure that they are building content knowledge as well as English proficiency.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments to the Revisions to the Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia and for the excellent work that has been done with the School Performance and Support Framework