Committee on School & Division Accountability
 

The Board received overviews of items that will be addressed on the Board’s full Committee agenda, including the Division-Level Memorandum of Understanding for Richmond City Public Schools as well as the Consolidated Plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA). Summary information about each can be found under the Thursday agenda item.
 

The full Consolidated State Plan under ESSA is available at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2017/07-jul/agenda-items/item-c.pdf
 

The Board also received an overview of assessment growth measures, including a discussion of the differences between progress tables and vertical scale measures, as well as an overview of commercially available growth assessments. Progress tables are currently used in Virginia because SOL tests are not designed to be compared from year to year. The Board and department are looking into what changes would be required in current SOL testing to allow for vertical scaling – which would provide the ability to compare test scores across SOL tests. The state’s roll out of computer adaptive testing provides some progress towards vertical scaling.
 

Presentations for all of these topics are available at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/committees_standing/accountability/2017/meeting_materials.shtml#jul26
 

In a separate work-session, the Board initiated a discussion of the Board’s Comprehensive Plan 2017-2022 and Annual Report on the Condition and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia which included member input on possible additions and/or changes to, as well as possible subtractions from these current documents.
 

Board Business Meeting
 

Proposal to Establish the Governor’s STEM Academy at Osbourn High School (Manassas City)

The Board approved the proposal from the Manassas City Public Schools to designate Osbourn High School as a Governor’s STEM Academy. The proposed Governor’s STEM Academy would provide rigorous academic and technical STEM coursework concentrating in three career clusters and pathways as follows:

• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Engineering and Technology
• Information Technology: Networks Systems
• Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics: Facility and Mobile Equipment Maintenance

As proposed, the Academy would have the capacity to enroll 140 students, grades 9-12. During the initial school year (2017-2018) 35 students will be admitted. The proposed beginning date for the Governor’s STEM Academy is school year 2017-2018.
 

Consolidated State Plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA)
 

The Board approved the draft Consolidated State Plan as required for federal accountability under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA). The proposed plan includes three critical elements: selection of academic indicators, long term goals and interim measures of progress, and identification of schools for support and improvement.
 

Selection of Academic Indicators

Each state’s federal accountability system must include four academic indicators and one indicator of student success or school quality. The academic indicators – academic achievement, academic progress or growth, graduation rate, and progress in English Learners (ELs) towards gaining proficiency in English – must carry significantly greater weight than the indicator of school quality. The indicators included in the proposed state plan are:

• Standards of Learning (SOL) tests – to measure academic achievement;
• Progress tables – to measure academic growth for elementary and middle schools;
• Federal Graduation Indicator (FGI) – to measure high school graduation rate as required by ESSA;
• ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 – to measure progress in ELs towards gaining proficiency in English; and
• Chronic absenteeism – to measure student success/school quality.

Long Term Goals and Interim Measures of Progress

Long term goals and interim measures of progress are required for each indicator. Virginia’s accountability benchmarks were selected as the long-term goals for reading and mathematics. A combined rate which integrates academic achievement, growth for elementary and middle schools, and progress for EL students towards gaining proficiency in reading, was used to develop the interim measures of progress. Using the combined rate, a student will be counted in the numerator of the reading or mathematics pass rate if:

• The student passes the assessment; or
• The student does not pass the assessment but demonstrates growth using the value tables; or
• For the reading assessment, the student does not pass the assessment or demonstrate growth, but is an EL and demonstrates progress as measured by the ACCESS for ELLs 2.0 assessment.

Students who failed the reading or mathematics test the previous year but who pass the reading or mathematics test in the current year are counted as two passing scores to acknowledge the work of the school in remediating the student. The combined rate gives credit for students who are not passing the test but are making progress, and ensures that the schools identified for support and improvement will be schools that not only have low pass rates, but schools in which student are also not making progress. This gap-closing model places the federal accountability focus on reporting groups that have historically failed to meet growth targets, and emphasizes the importance of improved achievement for low performing reporting groups.
 

Identification of Schools for Support and Improvement
 

ESSA requires states to identify multiple categories of schools for support and improvement.

Identification is based on the long term goals and interim measures of progress for all indicators.
 

Schools identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement would include the lowest 5 percent of Title I schools based on the performance of all students in the required indicators, any high school that has a federal four year cohort graduation rate below 67%, and Title I schools identified for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement that fail to meet the exit criteria after three years. Such schools would be identified every three years beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.
 

Schools identified for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement would include any school in which any subgroup of students, on its own, would lead to identification as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement school. Such schools would also be identified every three years beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.
 

Schools requiring Targeted Support and Improvement would include any school with one or more “consistently underperforming” subgroups of students, based on the required indicators. These schools will be identified from the schools identified for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement, and would be identified annually beginning with the 2019-2020 school year.
 

In addition, the Board adopted the following changes following the June 2017 Board meeting based on Board of Education input as well as input that USED provided to states that submitted ESSA plans during the first review period.
 

Title I, Part A

• Added language to reflect the future inclusion of other growth measures.
• Adjusted the exit criteria for high schools identified for targeted support and assistance due to not meeting the federal graduation rate such that high schools must either meet the interim measure of progress or must increase the federal graduation rate by 2.5 percent for two consecutive years in the subgroup or subgroups for which the school was identified. The identification procedures were also modified to reflect this change.
• In response to the template prompt about disproportionate rates of access to educators, included information from Virginia’s Teacher Equity Plan. Previously the Equity Plan had been referenced, but findings included in the Equity Plan were not described in detail.

Title I, Part C

• Added detail about services for preschool students and out-of-school youth who are also identified as migrant.
• Provided a description of how the migrant education program will classify dropout students for the purposes of program monitoring and evaluation.
• Provided additional detail on coordination of services with other federal ESSA programs.
• Updated measurable objectives for this program. The updated objectives reflect input from Virginia’s migrant education program coordinators.

Title II, Part A

• Provided additional detail on programs and activities for students identified as Gifted.
• Provided information about the development of a working group to focus on teacher quality, assessments, clinical experiences, use of data for continuous improvement, and preparation for working in high poverty schools.

Title IV, Part A

• Described the procedures that Virginia will use to award funds to divisions to reflect recent guidance issued by USED.

McKinney-Vento

• Provided additional information on support for school personnel to heighten the awareness of the specific needs of unaccompanied homeless youth
• Expanded the description of activities to address barriers to accessing academic and extracurricular activities

Appendix B

• Provided information on the inclusion of provisions of Section 427 of the General Education Provisions Act in ESSA program applications.

The Consolidated State Plan will be submitted to the Governor for a thirty day review period. The Consolidated State Plan will be submitted to USED by September 18, 2017. Pending USED approval of Virginia’s Consolidated State Plan, federal accountability determinations will be implemented for the 2018-2019 school year based on 2017-2018 assessment results.
 

The full draft of the plan as it is being submitted to the Governor for his review on the required federal template is available at: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2017/07-jul/agenda-items/item-c.pdf
 

Division-Level Memorandum of Understanding for Richmond City Public Schools

The Board approved the division-level Memorandum of Understanding for Richmond City Public Schools. Per the Standards of Quality (SOQ), local school boards are required to maintain Fully Accredited schools and to take corrective actions for schools that are not Fully Accredited. When the Board of Education determines through the school academic review process that the failure of schools within a division to achieve full accreditation status is related to division-level failure to implement the Standards of Quality or other division-level action or inaction, the Board may require a division-level academic review, which in turn can lead to the development and implementation of a division-level Memorandum of Understanding.
 

Recommended Cut Scores for the SAT and PSAT/NMSQT/PSAT10 When Used as Substitute Tests for the Standards of Learning End-of-Course Tests

The Board waived first review and approved cut scores for the achievement levels of pass/proficient and pass/advanced for the following tests when used as substitutes for Standards of Learning End-of-Course assessments:

Reading

• SAT Reading test score: 21 for pass/proficient and 30 for pass/advanced
• PSAT/NMSQT/PSAT10 Reading test score: 21 for pass/proficient and 31 for pass/advanced

Writing

• SAT Writing and Literacy test score and Essay Writing subscore: 21 with at least a four (4) on the Essay Writing subscore for pass/proficient and 31 with at least a six (6) on the Essay Writing subscore for pass/advanced.

Algebra I

• SAT Math section score:440 for pass/proficient and 520 for pass/advanced
• PSAT/NMSQT/PSAT10 Math section score: 460 for pass/proficient and 550 for pass/advanced

Approval of these cut scores at this meeting allows for notification to school divisions of the availability of these assessments prior to the start of the 2017-2018 school year.
 

First Review of the Proposed 2017 Computer Science Standards of Learning

The Board received for first review Proposed 2017 Computer Science Standards of Learning. The Computer Science Standards of Learning identify academic content for essential components of the computer science curriculum at different grade levels for Virginia’s public schools. The standards are not intended to encompass the entire curriculum for a given grade level or course. School divisions are encouraged to incorporate the standards into a broader, locally-designed curriculum.

The proposed 2017 Computer Science Standards of Learning includes the following components:

• Preface
• Introduction
• What is Computer Science?
• What is Computational Thinking
• Computer Science Practices for Students
• Equity
• Organization of the Computer Science Standards of Learning
• Standards of Learning by Grade Level and Content Strand

During the steering committee and review committee meetings, members were asked to review national resources in computer science education including the K-12 Computer Science Framework; the Computer Science Teachers Association Standards and existing state computer science or related standards from Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Washington.

The Standards were also to be based on a review of the Profile of a Virginia Graduate as well as existing content areas, including computer technology.   Recommended standards should: show the vertical progression of computer science content and skills; correlate to existing content area standards, including computer technology; provide local school division flexibility in implementation; ensure developmental appropriateness of student expectations; and sufficiently prepare students for college and careers.

In addition, HB831 was approved during the 2016 session of the General Assembly. The bill amended the Code of Virginia to state that the Standards of Learning shall include “computer science and computational thinking, including computer coding,” which will be incorporated through the draft Standards.

The Department of Education will now receive public comment for at least 30 days before bringing the Proposed 2017 Computer Science Standards of Learning to the Board of Education for final review in October 2017. During the public comment period, the Board of Education will host public hearings on the Proposed 2017 Computer Science Standards of Learning.
 

Reports

The Board received reports on the Amended Timeline for the Science Standards of Learning and on Designing Career Investigations Options for Middle School Students.