Policy Update: Virginia: Reality Strikes

Vital Statistics
132	Public school districts
1,792	Public schools
1.1 million	K-12 enrollment
34%	Minority students
14%	Children in poverty
13.1%	Students with disabilities
$6.3 billion	Annual K-12 expenditures (all revenue sources)

But last spring, those changes became very real for students when thousands of young people sat for the state's challenging new exams for the first time. In classrooms statewide, teachers administered 1.6 million individual tests covering a range of subjects linked to the state's new academic standards, which the state school board approved in 1995. all of the state's schools had in place new curricula to correspond to the Standards of Learning.

Elementary and middle school students won't necessarily be held back a grade if they fail the new tests, but the scores must be considered when teachers make promotion decisions, state education officials say.

Also last spring, high school students broke in the new end-of-course tests in eight subject areas, but it will be 2004 before students need to pass the exams in order to graduate.

Standards-setting committees used the initial high school exams last year mostly to determine what should constitute a passing score. Last fall, the state board decided that students would have to answer between 60 percent and 70 percent of the questions correctly on most exams in order to pass.

State leaders say that the high school exam results will have significant implications: Beginning in 2007, if 70 percent of a school's students fail to pass the exit exams, the school will lose its accreditation. Performance on the tests will not jeopardize state funding, however. Education leaders are optimistic that teachers and students will rise to the challenge and have pledged not to compromise if faced with high failure rates.

"Nobody's going to roll back on this," says Paul D. Stapleton, who was appointed state schools superintendent last summer.

Though Gov. James S. Gilmore III has switched his education team by appointing Stapleton, a new state board chairman, and two new board members, he pledged when he took office last year that he would continue to build on the standards and accountability measures initiated by his predecessor and fellow Republican, George F. Allen Jr.

Besides rolling out new tests, the state school board last year required every public school in Virginia to provide detailed information to parents on student achievement, including the results of tests linked to the Standards of Learning.

Those report cards--the first batch is to be issued to parents this month--will also include crime statistics and attendance. Districts will be able to put additional information on the report cards to explain the results.

Also in 1998, the state board approved new teacher-license requirements that will ratchet up the amount of subject-matter preparation new teachers must have by next year.

While the American Federation of Teachers and local teachers' unions have applauded Virginia's standards for their clarity and specificity, some teachers and administrators worry that they won't be able to improve students' test scores fast enough to avoid losing accreditation.

In the 36,000-student Norfolk public schools, where about half the students routinely pass the current state tests, some teachers suggest that the state measure year-to-year improvement on exams rather than set a firm passing grade.

"It's unrealistic to expect that we can take a child who is reading in the 1st percentile and move them to the 70th percentile in the course of one year," says Marian Flickinger, the president of the 1,400-member Norfolk Federation of Teachers. "The point should be, where are the children now and where can we move them?"

Rather than make exceptions in the grading procedures, though, Stapleton says the state will offer assistance to schools.

Fulfilling one of Gilmore's promises from his 1997 campaign, the legislature last year approved $29 million to hire 600 elementary school teachers by 2000, as well as $28 million to hire additional K-3 teachers to reduce class sizes.

To help teachers in meeting the new academic standards, the legislature also passed a $25 million program in this year's budget for teacher training and professional development and $14.3 million to pay for extra remedial courses.

The real test of how beneficial the state aid has been will come in the next few years as student test scores and school report cards circulate--or when the first school is on the brink of losing its state seal of approval.

Stapleton says he's realistic about the fact that some schools may not make the cut: "We can do everything we can to help school systems get there, but saying all are going to be successful, we can't say that."