Building Accountability Through Clear and Focused Standards
Policy Rationale and Goals:
Like nearly all states, beginning in the early 1990s, Virginia has been in the
process of drafting and adopting a set of state standards that describe the
skills and knowledge students should achieve at various stages of their
educational careers. In 1995, Virginia adopted "Standards of Learning" in the
core academic subjects of English/language arts, math, science, and
history/social science. According to the American Federation of Teachers' Making Standards 
Matter 1997: An Annual Fifty-State Report on Efforts to Raise Academic Standards,
Virginia's standards are extraordinarily clear, focused, and well grounded in content. Their grade-by-grade and course-by-course structure ensures that they will be useful to teachers and other school staff regardless of the grade or subject they are involved in. ...They reflect some tough choices about what is most important for students to learn, rather than trying to cover everything. It is because of this combination of clarity, detail, content, and precision that we consider Virginia's standards `exemplary' and worthy of a close look by other states. (Gandal, 1997, p.95)
In addition to adopting a set of standards in the four core academic content areas, Virginia is in the process of building other components of a standards-driven state accountability system that will support the integration of these standards statewide. According to a response from Virginia that was contained in the appendix of the AFT Making Standards Matter 1997 report, the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction at that time, Richard T. La Pointe, described four components of the state's "educational reform package: [1] rigorous standards in the four content areas; [2] assessments designed to assess those standards; [3] accreditation standards for schools which consider student performance on these standards in the accreditation decisions; and [4] a school performance report card to the public." (p.160) The state's Standards of Learning were adopted after an extensive review process throughout the state.
Implementation Strategy: Since adoption of the state's Standards of Learning, Virginia has been establishing a new assessment system to measure student competencies aligned with the state standards. In the spring of 1998, Virginia administered new Standards of Learning tests to public school students in grades three, five, and eight in math, English, history, and social sciences. End-of-course exams were also administered to high school students in eight subject areas. Committees responsible for setting the Standards of Learning reviewed the results of the high school exams to determine passing scores and recommended that students would have to answer between 60 - 70 % of questions correctly in order to pass and, eventually, to graduate. (Portner, 1999, p.181) "Not only will students, starting with the Class of 2004, need to have passed six of the eleven high school tests to graduate, but schools where less than 70 percent of students have passed the tests also will face the loss of their accreditation, starting in 2007." (Benning, 1998) Public accountability will be further enhanced by a state requirement that schools provide detailed information to the public on student achievement, results of Standards of Learning tests, crime statistics, and attendance. Districts are also given the option of including information deemed pertinent for explaining the results and putting the statistics in context. Teachers will be supported in their efforts to improve student learning by a $25 million staff development program with $14.3 million for extra remedial courses.
Lessons Learned: Like other states involved in developing standards-based accountability systems, Virginia has taken time to build support for the reforms and is giving schools and students the time needed to implement the wide range of changes. According to the Virginia Board of Education which adopted passing scores for 27 Standards of Learning tests in October 1998, the "implementation period is intended to give educators time to use test results to strengthen school programs where needed." (Virginia Department of Education, 1998) Academic standards and an emphasis on student learning results present both challenges and opportunities for vocational programs and schools with a focus on career preparation and technical training. For schools participating in the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools That Work (HSTW) network, Virginia's emphasis on academic standards and assessment provides the possibility of deepening many of the changes in curriculum and instruction that are already beginning to occur. With its emphasis on using data for program improvement, HSTW schools have taken many of the first steps that all schools in the state will eventually need to take in order to incorporate a data-driven approach to school improvement. In January 1999, the Virginia Department of Education presented a one and one-half day workshop for teams from 64 HSTW sites on using data in a systemic approach to improving teaching and learning. While the workshops focused, in part, on using the 1998 HSTW assessment results, participants were also encouraged to use other school-based data, including results on the state's new set of assessments.
Benning, V. (1998, November 16). Will new Virginia school standards pass muster with the public. Washington Post web site. Available on-line: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/16/1641-111698-idx.html>.
Gandal, M. (1997). Making standards matter 1997: An annual fifty-state report on efforts to raise academic standards. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.
Portner, J. (1999, January 11). Quality counts `98: Rewarding results, punishing failure. Education Week, 18(17), 181.
Virginia Department of Education. (1998, October 30). Virginia Board of Education sets passing scores (Press release). Available on-line: <http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/NewHome/pressreleases/oct3098.html>.
