With decades of experience in school and division turnaround, I bring a deep understanding of what is required to ensure success for each of Virginia’s schools. I see the Virginia School Performance and Support Framework as a crucial component in driving positive change.

To achieve improvement, we need to change both our approach and our methods. The Virginia School Performance and Support Framework plays a central role in this transformation, and I would like to discuss the proposed changes and their contributions to strengthening our accreditation system.

GRADUATION RATE: Since the federal graduation rate is a mandatory requirement, it makes sense to use it as the metric in the updated accreditation system, ensuring it receives the attention it deserves.

STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT: I strongly support including both student growth and achievement in the new system, with a focus on ensuring students master the content they are expected to learn. I am thrilled with the new English Standards of Learning (2024) and certainly understand the true rigor integrated into those standards. For example, in grades K-12, there are several shifts that raise learning expectations for students. One of those shifts is being able to read complex grade-level text, something students must be able to do with both literary and informational text. The intention of the standards is that students across the Commonwealth, no matter where they live, have the same opportunity to learn challenging standards. The standards do not imply that all that is expected is for students to "grow" in the standards, but the expectation is that students learn them. The growth piece provides a piece of evidence that a student is beginning to learn the expected standards and schools and divisions are given credit for that growth. But the main event must be on mastery.

CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM: Issues with chronic absenteeism are not new, but they did increase due to the pandemic. The percentages of students with chronic absenteeism is decreasing, but there is more work to be done. This work is not the work of only our school divisions, but also of parents and caretakers of students in our schools. Schools should do whatever it is that will help ensure students come to school, and in the recent All-In program, school divisions received funding to implement what they believed would work in improving chronic absenteeism. The additional support has been there and will continue to be there.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: Federal law now requires that English Language Learners be included in accountability measures after 1.5 years rather than the 5.5 years of yesteryear. This places an increased emphasis on the measure used for ELL progression in learning the English language. This does not mean that support for Els ends at 1.5 years, but that accountability begins.

A goal is to shorten exclusion periods to provide faster support. The Board recognizes that the issue is not about the time, it is about the support, and I believe the shortened timeline brings urgency to the support needed for Els. A report from the team of The Commonwealth Institute spoke to the needed support for EL students.

“Evidence for these outcomes, particularly over the pandemic shows that EL students are not receiving adequate support to overcome barriers they face. Parents and guardians of EL students are less likely to have easy access to school information in their native language. EL students were also more likely to have experienced economic, health, and emotional hardship over the pandemic, along with regression in language proficiency and will need additional support in school settings to navigate these challenges.”

School divisions can supplement the state’s data by providing additional data that captures the progress EL students are making, and I would encourage them to do so.

VIRGINIA'S 5 Cs (critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and citizenship skills) are not new in Virginia. The English Standards (2017) were the first to embed the 5 Cs within a curriculum document. Because it speaks to higher-level thinking skills, school divisions across the Commonwealth have embraced their use.

The 5 Cs will now be emphasized beginning in fifth grade, and I was glad to find examples of what that looks like in the newly adopted English Standards (2024). In terms of literacy, we provide students with text around which we ask them to think critically. The new standards call for students to think critically about challenging grade-level text, something that does not occur as often as one might think.

PERFORMANCE TASKS are not new in Virginia and the world of assessment can handle the issues of assessing students in this way.

In Virginia’s model, career readiness begins in the eighth grade. Through this, students learn practical life and career skills. With an emphasis on critical thinking, collaboration, and career readiness, those in schools can better ensure students are on a viable pathway after the 12^th grade.

I support the inclusion of both types of performance tasks as school divisions already use performance tasks if they choose to create and score their own writing assessments. Additionally, school divisions across the Commonwealth have championed problem-based learning which uses performance assessments.

ADVANCED COURSES IN MIDDLE SCHOOL: Offering advanced courses in middle school allows students to challenge themselves academically, develop critical thinking skills, and manage more rigorous coursework, preparing them for future success. By encouraging students in seventh and eighth grade to take advanced classes, such as Algebra 1, schools set the stage for high school achievement and readiness for Virginia’s growing, future-oriented economy.

PROPOSED PERFORMANCE LABELS: Everyone is aware of the proposed performance labels, and some are dissatisfied with them. However, the reality is that no label can sugarcoat the challenges faced by a school with struggling learners. Terms like "on-track" and "off-track" are commonly used in education to reflect progress.

The following examples are reasons I support the performance labels.

1. There is no avoiding the performance labels—if a school is off-target, it is off-target. The focus then should be on what the school needs to do to get back on track. A sense of urgency is critical in turning around student achievement, and while I am not a fan of the “off-track” label, I do believe it will instill the needed urgency in school divisions. This urgency has been lacking, and we know it is a driving force behind improving school performance.

2. I believe the performance labels will also push superintendents to be more transparent with their school boards about student achievement. Currently, some superintendents may present mostly positive assessment results, leaving out underperforming subgroups. This transparency is vital, as all students deserve attention, not just the ones in the All Students group. Superintendents, staff, and school boards must engage their communities with honesty about the achievement realities while ensuring the labels are communicated in ways that resonate with their audiences.

3. Clear communication about the meaning of performance labels is essential. I see this as both a top priority and a manageable task. We must balance the positive achievements of schools and divisions with a realistic portrayal of the challenges they face. The "off-target" label helps convey that all students deserve attention, and it underscores the importance of addressing the struggles a school or division may be experiencing.

3 E FRAMEWORK: I fully support the emphasis on real-world outcomes: college, career, and military readiness. (However, in the future, I would love to see a fourth "E" added: Entrepreneurship.) Virginia’s 3E framework sets clear expectations for schools to support students as they prepare for life beyond K-12 education, ensuring they graduate with something concrete—whether it is college enrollment, employment, or military enlistment. Without a commitment to the 3E framework, we risk leaving our students directionless after high school, and we can do better than that.

Additionally, the focus on industry credentials fills the gap of helping to ensure students are ready for all types of work, including those in the trades industry. The trades are given the stature they deserve rather than being a pathway for those who cannot handle college.

The 3 E's help ensure students are on a path toward their futures. Schools don't determine what students should do after graduation, but they can help ensure students have coursework and experiences that support what a student desires to do after graduation. There is no rule that students follow one of these pathways, which I believe reflect the three largest categories of what students choose to do after graduation.

LOWERING THE N COUNT FOR GROUPS/SUBGROUPS: I applaud the decision to lower the threshold for the number of students in a group to count for accountability in Virginia. This change will ensure that more students, including those with disabilities and English learners, receive the targeted support they need. Some may worry that this will reveal more students who did not pass assessments—and that is true. But it will also highlight more students who succeeded.

Will reducing group sizes increase the support required for struggling students? Absolutely. However, these students were already in the classroom and being left out because of the group size often meant they were not receiving the support they deserved. That needs to change. Educators are responsible for ensuring all students learn—not just those for whom learning is easy, but every student they serve.

TIMING: There is an urgent need to adopt these changes in response to pandemic-related learning loss and declining SOL scores. The changes are necessary, thought-out, and needed now. Each of the changes provides additional strength for the overall system of educating students in our Commonwealth. The Board of Education has been discussing these refinements for about two years - it is not being pushed through. Over that period, anyone in Virginia has had the opportunity to comment and provide input into the development of the changes. 

Other Notes

• Virginia's accountability data does not limit the data a school or division shares with its community. For school divisions involved in branding, showing data beyond accreditation data is a natural piece of telling their stories.
• Changes in the updated system are designed to drill-down to the schools with the greatest need.
• Those who support the changes in Virginia's accountability framework are also stakeholders.
• I do not see a nefarious plan for an unprecedented takeover of schools. Rather, there is an increased emphasis on support. Examples of this support have been apparent with every school division participating in All-In, which has provided additional dollars for tutoring, chronic absenteeism, and implementation of Virginia's Literacy Act (a bipartisan Act).
• The funding formula for schools has been an issue for years. There is finally some action taking place to fix - or at least improve - the formula. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.
• Virginia brings the issues of poverty to light through the inclusion of economically disadvantaged as a subgroup to monitor. The data show when there is an issue with this subgroup of students such that school divisions and schools can address reasons those students might not be performing at a higher level. School divisions determine the attention given to the poverty issue, which they can do by starting with a high-quality curriculum for every student.
• Schools are not being labeled as failures, but they will be realistically labeled. School division staff may want to consider how they will help communicate the new performance labels to those under their leadership. While "off-track" definitely hits you in the face, there is no confusion about the achievement in the school. Virginia has loads of good schools. Those with a need to help ensure all students are successful will be highlighted - and communities can then rally around these school to move them to "on track."
• In school divisions where I have worked, most of the choice schools are public choice schools. They still represent public education at its best and have the same expectations as other schools.
• There is a need for school divisions to be more transparent with their communities.
• I have found the honesty gap to be true.
• Virginia is a top state for business - with its 3rd first-place victory in five years. (CNBC Rankings.) Business is good for Virginia. The rankings have ten or so categories that were reviewed and the category for our Commonwealth shows a continued need for improvement, and that's what the revisions to the accountability framework will provide.