Dive Brief:
- As Virginia schools have grappled with lower pass rates on new state tests and resulting drops in state rankings, state education officials are beginning to push for a more measured approach to school accountability.
- The state has delayed releasing accreditation scores in anticipation of the state board of education's approval of substantial changes to the ranking system; for example, the category “partially accredited” could be changed to “approaching benchmark.”
- Education leaders have also begun to push for more communication with parents and community members about measures of school quality beyond test scores, and more focus on improvement over a specific score.
Dive Insight:
The debate in Virginia over the role of tests and high-stakes accountability is not unique. As new Common Core-tied state test results have rolled out this year, parents, schools, and lawmakers have had to find ways to navigate considerably lower scores. The result in many states has been a reckoning over what the consequences should be for a school with low scores on new, more challenging tests.
Virginia schools chief Steven Staples offers one way of thinking about the new scores: They’re lower because the test is better. He expects the scores will rise with time and with the appropriate support for teachers and schools. “You don’t hear Advanced Placement teachers saying, ‘Oh, you know, we’ve got to prepare kids for the Advanced Placement test.’ Because it is a high-quality test that reflects best-practice instruction,” Staples told the News Advance.
