Virginia Board of Education Meeting Summary 
January 23 and 24, 2019

Board Work Session

Comprehensive Strategies to Retain, Recruit, and Support Talented Teachers
The Board received a report from the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center regarding Comprehensive Strategies to Retain, Recruit, and Support Talented Teachers. This report included information about why teachers are leaving.  The primary reason for this is dissatisfaction including: dissatisfaction with accountability, lack of administrative support, dissatisfaction with teaching, and challenging working conditions.  The attrition rate for first-year teachers has increased by 34% from 1988-2008.  The most frequently cited reasons new teachers provided for leaving teaching was dissatisfaction with a variety of school and working conditions including:  salaries, classroom resources, student behavior, accountability, development opportunities, input into key decisions; and school leadership.  

Research suggests that beginning teacher induction and mentoring programs can positively affect teacher retention, students’ outcomes, and teacher quality while saving costs.  Successful components of induction and mentoring programs include:  sing grade and subject as key matching criteria between mentors and beginning teachers; providing common planning time with teachers in the same subject; allocating time for regularly scheduled collaboration with other teachers; offering training for mentor teacher and providing time for coaching; and fostering a supportive school culture with strong, committed leadership.  

Compensation is the second most cited reason teachers are leaving the profession.  Teacher salaries today are between 14% and 25% lower than those for other professions available to college graduates.  Virginia’s starting salaries for teachers with a bachelor’s degree ranges from a low of $30,407 to a high of $49,600 in 2016-17.  Virginia’s 2016 average annual teacher salary ranked 30th among the 50 states ($50,834).  Research indicates that financial incentives can positively impact teacher recruitment and retention especially in hard-to-staff schools and subject areas; they can also help to improve student performance. Meta-analysis finds that merit pay programs are associated with a modest, but statistically significant, positive effect on student test scores.  Financial incentives can generate long term cost-savings and have the potential to produce benefits greater than the costs.   Performance pay programs have an 87% chance of producing benefits greater than the costs.  Successful programs couple financial incentives with other supports and opportunities for advancement.

The role of working conditions is another predictor of teacher retention.  Several workplace conditions associated with teacher turnover include:  school culture, experiences with professional development, shared decision-making, and time for professional collaboration and planning.   Research on working conditions indicates (in a survey of over 2,000 current and former California teachers) that opportunities to participate in school decision-making, the quality of staff relationships, and adequate time for planning were cited as reasons to stay in teaching. Schools with lower attrition rates were more likely to establish time for teachers to collaborate with other teachers, plan, and review student work; and support shared decision-making.  A perceived lack of administrative support was the working condition that most often predicted increased teacher turnover. Strategies for improving teacher working conditions include: the implementation of school climate surveys, increase instructional support to principals, supplement traditional professional development, and support projected in-school time for planning, collaboration, and development.

Policy considerations related to induction and support include:  requiring beginning educators to complete an induction program to gain a professional teaching license; implementing targeted induction and mentoring supports for new teachers in critical shortage areas, including mathematics, science and special education; and reviewing and updating Virginia’s Guidelines for Mentor Teacher Programs.

Policy considerations related to salaries and compensation include:  assessing the implementation of locally-developed compensation models that include measures of teacher effectiveness and growth; encouraging divisions to devise a plan to regularly evaluate and update pay floors and incentive programs; requiring the development of differentiated pay plans that include a package of financial incentive and other supports required to recruit, retain, and develop the teacher workforce; and encouraging divisions to revise their salary scale to front-load teacher compensation.

Policy considerations related to working conditions include:  development and adoption of formal standards for teaching and learning conditions by requiring/encouraging divisions to conduct regular assessments of such conditions and incorporating the improvement of such conditions in school improvement plans; and exploring the feasibility of micro-credentialing as an avenue for providing personalized learning to educators.

Additional information regarding comprehensive strategies to retain, recruit, and support talented teachers can be found at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/aacc_boe_presentation.pptx

Profile of a Virginia Educator: An 18-Month Review of Teacher Professional Development and Evaluation System
The Board discussed a process for the review of teacher professional development and evaluation system. The expected outcomes of this 18-month review are to: utilize the created Profile of a Virginia Classroom to impact classroom instructional practice; utilize the profile of a Virginia Educator to support revisions in the evaluation process; and utilize the profile of a Virginia Education Leader to support revisions in the evaluation process.

The expected timeline for the process is as follows:
•    January – May 2019: completion of Educator, Education Leader and Classroom Profiles
•    June 2019: presentation of Profiles to the Board of Education for Review
•    July 2019: approval of Profiles by the Board of Education
•    By July 2019: begin work on new teacher evaluation process
•    By January 2020: make revisions to professional development process including alignment with the new evaluation system 

Additional information regarding the Profile of a Virginia Educator:  Review of Teacher Professional Development and Evaluation System can be found at:
 http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/profile_of_a_virginia-educator_presentation.pptx.

Standards of Quality Review – “Levers” and Best Practices
The Board discussed the following policy “levers,” the research related to each, and policy considerations:

Lever One:  Instructional Quality.  Policy considerations include:  
•    Consider smaller classes for inexperienced teachers who need support or for teachers who are responsible for struggling students;
•    Consider further defining teacher effectiveness and developing a state-wide, standardized measurement strategy; 
•    Consider raising the standards for professional development with additional specificity and more opportune training topics;  
•    Consider setting a maximum threshold of new and professionally licensed teachers in high-poverty schools;
•    Consider requirements on the development and evaluation of school building leaders, with a focus on attributes that promote positive school climate and enhance student achievement;
•    Consider requiring reading specialists, and adjusting ratios based on student need; and
•    Consider updating staffing rations for technology support positions consistent with current instructional technology needs and future uses. 

Lever Two:  Student Support. Policy considerations include:
•    Consider 1:250 ratio of school counselors to students, with priority staffing for high poverty schools; and
•    Remove social workers, psychologists and nurses from support services “bucket” and create new Specialized Instructional Support Personnel staffing category with recommended ratios.

Lever Three:  Supporting Vulnerable Student Populations. Policy considerations include:
•    Consider further refinement of acceptable programs and services using for students educationally at-risk; 
•    Consider needs-based distribution of English Learner staff, to include poverty and proficiency level; and
•    Consider separate, dedicated effort to review Special Education staffing caseloads, following completion of JLARC report. 

Additional information regarding the Board’s review of the Standards of Quality can be found at the following link: 
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/soq-levers-and-best-practices.pptx

Business Meeting

Procedure for Appointment of a School Division Superintendent by the Virginia Board of Education to Comport with House 81 (2018)
The Board approved changes in procedures that will be used in the event a school board fails to appoint a division superintendent within the time required by law to align the existing Procedure for the Appointment of a School Division Superintendent by the Virginia Board of Education with changes adopted during the 2018 General Assembly Session.  Section 22.1-60 of the Code of Virginia requires school boards to appoint a division superintendent within 180 after a vacancy occurs but changed adopted by the General Assembly in 2018 allow school boards to request and be granted up to an additional 180 days within which to appoint a division superintendent. 

Corrective Action Plan Required by the Division-level Review for Richmond City Public Schools 
The Board approved the Corrective Action Plan that details the essential actions that Richmond City must implement during the 2018-2019 school year and beyond to support improvement in the academic performance of its students as well as evidence that will be used to evaluate progress in implementing the essential actions.  Details of the Plan are available at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-d.docx

Model Guidance for Positive and Preventive Code of Student Conduct Policy and Alternatives to Suspension 
The Board adopted Model Guidance for Positive and Preventive Code of Student Conduct Policy and Alternatives to Suspension.  The Board included the following revisions to the document pursuant to discussion from the Board’s initial review on November 15, 2018:
•    Reference the data that prompted a review of the policy guidelines (pgs. 9-10),
•    Revise the statement regarding early childhood programs under Commitment to Equity (pgs. 16-17),
•    Include families in the section about equity (pgs. 17-19),
•    Provide further guidance regarding searches of students, including removal of the word “interrogation” and a reorganization separating school procedures for interviewing, searching, and using restraint/seclusion from police practices  (pgs.30-34),
•    Include guidance for policy regarding seclusion and restraint (pgs. 30 and 135), 
•    Clarify reporting of suspensions/expulsions with reporting attendance (pgs. 30 and 69), 
•    Provide increased focus to teachers’ authority to remove a student for disruptive behavior (pgs.21 and 43), and
•    Provide additional resources regarding equity and cultural competence (pgs. 145-146).

In addition, the Board added the following language to the section on Data Driven Decision Making, beginning on p.84: “At least annually, the school board, school superintendent, and school level administrators should review school-level discipline data by race, gender, disability status, socio-economic status and the intersections of those categories.  The review should identify and analyze gaps between these categories and subcategories and should be used to inform plans to address disparities revealed in the analysis.  The review should also include input from students, parents and teachers:

The full guidance document is available at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-e.docx

Guidelines for Local Alternative Assessments for 2018-2019 through 2019-2020 
The Board adopted the Guidelines for Local Alternative Assessments for 2018-2019 through 2019-2020 with the following minor changes from the document that was presented to the Board on November 15, 2018:
•    Changes “balanced assessment map” to “balanced assessment plan” for clarity;
•    Clarifies that in 2018-2019, school divisions will be expected to further refine their local assessment plans to demonstrate the movement to the use of performance assessments; and
•    Clarifies that in 2019 the Virginia Department of Education will provide training regarding the application of rubrics to score student work.

Cut Scores for the End-of-Course Standards of Learning Tests in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II Based on the 2016 Mathematics Standards; and a Technical Revision to the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (8VAC20-23) 
The Board adopted scaled scores of at least 400 for pass/proficient and at least 500 for pass/advanced for the end-of-course Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II SOL tests based on the 2016 Mathematics SOL.  These scaled scores shall be equivalent to the following number of items correct on the test forms reviewed by the educator committees convened for standard setting:

•    Algebra I: 20 for pass/proficient and 40 for pass/advanced
•    Geometry: 20 for pass/proficient and 40 for pass/advanced 
•    Algebra II:  24 for pass/proficient and 40 for pass/advanced 

Technical Revision to the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (8VAC20-23)
The Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (8VAC20-23) became effective August 23, 2018.  An inadvertent omission was made in section 8VAC20-23-630. Division Superintendent License that needed to be corrected.  For each of the first three options for a Division Superintendent License, the following experience is to be required: Completed five years of educational experience in a public or an accredited nonpublic school, two of which shall be successful, full-time teaching experience at the preK-12 level and two of which shall be in administration and supervision at the preK-12 level.  When a section of the text in Option 2 for the Division Superintendent was stricken and replaced, the text regarding the experience requirement was eliminated in error; however, this requirement is to be listed under Option 2. 

Amendments to the Licensure Regulation for School Personnel (8 VAC20-23) to Comport with 2018 Legislation Passed by the General Assembly Under the Fast Track Provisions of the Administrative Process Act
The Board of Education approved revisions to the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (fast-track) to align with various legislation passed by the 2018 General Assembly and authorized the Department of Education staff to make technical edits, if necessary, and continue with the procedures of the Administrative Process Act. 

The relevant legislation from the 2018 General Assembly session includes:

•    HB 2 and SB 103 which require the Board of Education to provide for teacher licensure by reciprocity for any spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the Commonwealth who has obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at the time the application for a Virginia license is received by the Department of Education. The bill provides that no service requirements or licensing assessments shall be required for any such individual.
•    HB 80 which requires the Board of Education, in its regulations providing for teacher licensure by reciprocity, to permit applicants to submit third-party employment verification forms.
•    HB 215 which requires the Board to establish an experiential route to licensure, issuing a one-year renewable license.
•    HB1125 and SB 349 which make several changes to the teacher licensure process, including (i) permitting teachers with a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, to receive licensure by reciprocity without passing additional licensing assessments and (ii) permitting a local school board or division superintendent to waive certain licensure requirements for any individual who holds a provisional license and is employed by the local school board. 

In addition, the Board also approved 270 professional development points for license renewal and include in the Licensure Renewal Manual the following maximum professional development points for each option until the renewal requirements are comprehensively reviewed:

1.    College Credit                    270 points
2.    Professional Conference              60 points
3.    Curriculum Development            135 points
4.    Publication of Article                135 points
5.    Publication of Book                135 points
6.    Mentor/Supervision                135 points
7.    Educational Project                135 points
8.    Professional Development Activities        270 points

Additional information regarding the professional development points for licensure can be found at:
 http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-i.docx

Notice of Intended Regulation Action (NOIRA) to Establish an Add-on Endorsement in the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (8VAC20-23) to Teach Economics and Personal Finance 
The Board waived first review and approved the Notice of Intended Regulation Action to establish an add-on endorsement in the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel (8VAC20-23) to teach economics and personal finance.  Currently, there is not a specific endorsement included in the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel to teach courses in Economics and Personal Finance.  Teachers holding valid Virginia licenses with endorsements in specific areas of agricultural education, business and information technology, family and consumer sciences, history and social science, marketing, and mathematics may teach the courses.  The add-on endorsement will expand the number of teachers who may want to teach economics and personal finance.

The timetable for further action regarding this add-on endorsement will be governed by the standard rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Process Act (APA).

Additional information related to this add-on endorsement can be found at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-j.docx

Amendment to Virginia’s Consolidated State Plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA)
The Board received for first review the amendment to Virginia’s consolidated state plan.  USED required this amendment because Virginia’s Plan did not include the definition of an ineffective teacher.  The following definition was presented to the Board:  An ineffective teacher is defined as a teacher who is both out-of-field and inexperienced.  When the Board approves this definition, the state plan will be amended and will be submitted to USED for review and approval. It should be noted that this definition is recommended only to meet the federal reporting requirement. Potential revisions to the Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers and existing state definitions, such as the Code of Virginia Section 22.1-307 definition of incompetency, will not be impacted by the definition of an ineffective teacher under ESSA.

Proposed State Approved Textbooks for K-12 English
The Board received for first review the list of proposed recommended textbooks for K-12 English. A list of all of the proposed textbooks can be found at:
 http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-l.docx

Proposed Revisions to the Virginia School Bus Specifications 
The Board received for first review proposed revisions to the Virginia School Bus Specifications.  Some of the proposed specification changes include the following:

•    Type B buses are removed from the Specifications.  There will no longer be production for Type “B” chassis school buses.
•    Child Check Systems specification language is added and is mandatory on all buses.  Such systems force the driver to walk to the rear of the bus to deactivate the alarm before opening the service door.  The option is relatively inexpensive ($200-300 per bus) and the majority of Virginia school divisions are already specifying this system when purchasing buses.
•    Specification language is added for exterior camera system monitors as an approved option.  Cameras can provide exterior views up to 360 degrees around the bus and can include both rear back up cameras and lane changing assistance.
•    Added supplemental warning light language in the Pilot Test section to allow for extra LED warning lights that are above the front and rear bus bumpers that give vehicles more “line of sight warning” when the school bus is stopped for loading and unloading students.
•    Ramps for special needs buses are removed as an approved option due to greater risk of injury due to slippage.
     
All of the proposed specification changes can be found at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/item-m.docx.

Reports
The Board received the following reports: 

•    Report from the Virginia is For Learners Advisory Committee 
•    Report on House Bill 1530 High School Diplomas Options and Stigma in Career and Technical Education
•    Legislative Report from the 2019 General Assembly Session

Links to details on each report are available from the Board’s main agenda item page at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2019/01-jan/agenda.shtml