001Good morning. Um, it's now 9:03 and I'll call this meeting to order. As is customary for our board, we will begin the meeting with a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. During the moment of silence today, I'd like to remember in particular Dr. Billy Ceday, who recently passed. In addition to being a longtime superintendent of Hampton City Schools and then Chesterfield County, Dr. Kennedy was also a former superintendent of public instruction and the president of the board of education. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the community and the Commonwealth at large. So, please join me in a moment of silence. God of allice for all. Okay. Before we approve our agenda, I'd like to make a quick note about the end of the meeting. As you all know, the
002department has been transitioning its offices and so we're not using our longtime meeting space in the Monroe building, but we've been fortunate enough to have hosts um sort of across Richmond, but um the last year and a half that have been inclusive of this building in the Library of Virginia. And part of using this space, of course, is abiding by the hours that they have for this public building. And in order to be out today by 5:00 p.m. um when the library closes, we are going to do our close meeting for our lensure cases today at the end of the agenda. Um we'll have our election of officers and discussion of current events and then go into close session to consider our teacher lensure cases. Just so everybody's clear on that, this portion of the
003meeting will not be livereamed. And so at that point, the YouTube broadcast will conclude after the end of the business meeting. We will not broadcast our return from closed session where we vote on the teacher lensure cases, but both will be recorded in the meeting minutes. We're only doing this so that our wonderful tech people can clean up the equipment and make sure that we're able to leave the library on time. Members of the public of course are welcome to stay and witness the proceeding when the board returns from close session. But I just wanted to explain why the YouTube channel or broadcast will be cut short and nothing other than our business meeting will be uh part of that YouTube broadcast today. So that being said, is there a motion to approve the agenda
004as presented? So okay any discussion Dr. Northern Dr. Ari. Mr. Hansen I. Mr. Rotherham Miss Ashton Miss Holton I and chair votes eye. Okay. Uh staff has provided the members of the board with draft minutes before the meeting from our last meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented to the board? So moved. Second. Dr. Northern, Dr. Arian, I Mr. Hansen, hi. Mr. Rotherham, Miss Ashton, Miss Holton, I. And chair votes I. Uh, the board appreciates being able to feature our wonderful musicians across the Commonwealth, our wonderful arts programs. And today, um, I will have Miss Holton provide us with an introduction for our guests. Thank you. Do it from up here. Yes. Yes. Uh well, we're delighted this morning to have with us the Graanby Singers under the direction of Mr.
005A. Church. They are a select group of highly dedicated and talented student musicians from Graanby High School in the Norfolk School Division. Got up very early this morning to be with us today. Thank you. Especially in the early part of your summer, we're grateful. Uh the students represent one of Norfolk's most vibrant music programs, consistently demonstrating advanced level musical excellence. The ensemble has collaborated with renowned artists, including members of the Virginia Corral, VOSS 8, and others, offering students unique opportunities to grow both artistically and professionally. Their commitment to excellence has contributed to Grandby High School's recognition as a blue ribbon school for music education. The Grandby singers embody the transformative power of music in education and community and are honored to share their artistry at today's board of education meeting. Joining the group is Norffor
006public school senior coordinator for music and teaching and theater Mr. Zack Rrooksby. The Grand B singers will be performing two pieces. The old mill by Kenneth Riggs and To Sit and Dream by Resa Pal. The setting of this piece is taken from a poem by Langston Hughes that speaks to the enduring power of hope and imagination. Thank you. And uh Madame President, will we Yes. The board's gonna move down to the audience so we can appreciate your performance. After the performance, we'll meet you all out in the hallway and take a picture with you all. Here from the brow of the hill I look through all the tears of bows and leaves. or the old and the rising east. I hear the flatter that it walls and the rushing water sounds. And I see the
007black flows rise and fall as a wheel go slow. [Music] Oh, [Music] I there [Music] was I was young with my grist on the horse before. And I talk with Nelly as I waited my turn at the door. And while she ringless and flirted and chated, the wheel might stop or the wheel might go. It was all the same to me. It's 20 long years since last I stood on the spot. I stand today [Music] and the will of God. The villain [Music] to ruin and wreck to our forune of toil and the man [Music] And the stream flows and the wheel moves slow. Amen. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I miss it. [Music] Sit and to sit and read. To sit and learn about the world. To sit and dream. To sit and read. To sit
008and learn about the world. To sit and dream. To sit and read. To sit and learn about the world. [Music] world. Our problem outside our world of our world. inside our world. Our problem world [Music] for you are dreamers too. You who are dreamers, help me make a world. I reach out my hands to you. I reach out my hand to you. I reach out my hands to you. I reach out my hands to you. I reach out my hand to you. I reach out my hand to you. I reach out my hand. I reach out my hand to you. I reach out my hand. I reach out my hand to you. I reach out my hand. I reach out my sit and dream to sit and read to sit and learn about the world
009To sit and read to sit and learn about the world. To sit and learn about the world. [Music] a dream. [Music] Wow. [Applause] Now we will move to the public comment section of the board's meeting today. As stated in the board's bylaws, it's the pleasure of the board to accept public comment on all matters related to public education in Virginia. Before we begin our public comment today, I want to share a few comments about the manner in which public comment will be conducted. I ask that you model professionalism, dignity, and respect for others as you share your thoughts today. As adults, it's important for us to model respectful civil public discourse for our students and children who are either in attendance today or viewing this stream uh through the YouTube channel online now or in
010the future. When you begin, please provide your name, role, or affiliation, and where you live in Virginia. All remarks must be directed to the chair, not to any other individual. Speakers will have three minutes to share their remarks. You'll notice the timer over on the screen on the table. Screens will begin at 3 minutes in the green color. And at one minute, the screen will turn yellow. The screen will turn red when your time is up. And at that point, we ask that you please close your remarks promptly. Speakers can give their comments to Joe Crook if there's anything written. Joe has his hand raised. He's our department's regulatory and board coordinator. All written comments received during the public comment period will be collected and provided to the board as soon as possible. You may
011also provide a copy of your written comments to the board at bever v do de.vergirginia.gov. And so with that, I will ask Scott Braybrand, followed by Kathy Halverson to begin our public comment today. Good morning, President Cesy, Superintendent Gullixson, and members of the Virginia Board of Education. My name is Scott Bray Brand. I'm executive director for VAS, and I live in Lynchburg, Virginia. VAS first wants to thank state superintendent um Emily Anne Gullixson for her continued communication and collaboration with superintendent. Her focus on communication with superintendents and communications to all public education stakeholders is very much appreciated. Today, we are pleased to see the continuing support of school construction grants through the school construction assistance program. We're glad to see unused funds also going to support school divisions who did not previously qualify, and we'd
012like to see this program expanded in future state budgets. We're also glad to see updates around the proficiency standard setting process for so test. Um, communication around this process and its impacts on students and school divisions remains critical as we prepare for the start of the 2526 school year. Also, we're glad to see updates on the new approach to school accreditation and the school performance and support framework. While we recognize there's no vote today, here are some thoughts to help inform your future decision-making. Thought number one, consider communication to all stakeholders around the new school accreditation process and the new performance and support framework to occur at the same time rather than staggered through the fall. Sending one education message regarding accreditation and school performance at the start of the school year is better than
013two messages. Number two, please delay adding new components to the performance and support framework for the 2627 school year until we have together fully assessed the results from the 25 24-25 school year. Adding earth science and world geography to advance coursework for middle school readiness presents challenges for many divisions around access and opportunity for students. We also need more information on the impact of adding social studies as a new indicator at elementary, middle, and high. Thought number three, while we remain concerned about the challenge of English language learners being tested after three semesters instead of 11, we do support the approach of measuring growth in the second year of testing instead of mastery that's going to be presented to you today. Number four, we're also supportive of the new 3E readiness indicator and look forward
014to the additional July guidance you'll be receiving. We do want to reemphasize that uh the needs for VDOE support and resources to help school divisions fully implement this indicator is very much appreciated. As always, we look forward to continuing to work with you on these very important issues. Seeing the flowers on the dis, I can't help but say I want to thank Anne Holton for her service on the board and thank you all for your service to to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Have a great day. Thank you. Kathy Halverson followed by Cardell Patio or JT. No Kathy Halverson. Okay. JT Kesler. Dr. Patillo had a last minute conflict and sends his regards. So I'm here on his behalf today. Uh, good morning, President Casy, Vice President Hansen, members of the board of education, Superintendent Gatson.
015My name is JT Kesler. I'm director of legislative services with the Virginia School Boards Association. BSBA wishes to extend our gratitude to board member Miss Anne Holton, who is exiting the board at the end of the month. Miss Holton has been a fierce champion for public education while serving as first lady, secretary of education, member of this board, and as a faculty member at George Mason University. Virginia's young people have benefited from Miss Holton's advocacy and support of public education. Her passion for believing education is the great equalizer for our children has impacted our public schools in a positive way. VSBA has worked with Miss Holton throughout her time as a public servant. She has spoken at our association conferences and workshops, attended regional meetings, and has engaged us in the crucial conversations that are
016a must when making decisions about the future of public educations. As Secretary of Education, Miss Holton worked with VSBA's task force on students in schools and challenging environments to host a summit to address the unique needs of challenged school communities. Whether it be accreditation, textbook adoption, or the work of board in making policy recommendations to the general assembly, Miss Holton has always sought out VSBA stances on issues, valuing insight from the schoolboard perspective. On behalf of VSBA president Dr. Jawanda Rollins Fels, Executive Director Gina Patterson, and our board of directors, I want to thank Miss Holton for her years of public service in support of public education. Our president's initiative for the year highlights the profound impact of public education in Virginia and those champions who lead the way. Miss Holton, your contributions to our
017schools and the children we serve are many and we know you will continue to advance the work of making our public education system in the Commonwealth second to none. Miss Holton, thank you for being a champion of impact. I thank the board for the work that you do. Appreciate the time and being able to speak with you today and wish you a very good meeting. Justin Hinsley followed by Antatis. Thank you. Good morning board. Um my name is Dr. Justin Hinsley and I'm a resident of the city of Lynchburg. Uh I'm here as a parent, an educator, and an advocate for my son Kevin. Uh, I appreciate your attention during my three minutes as what I'm about to share impacts not only my son but also many students across the state of Virginia. On 6th
018February 2025, Lynburg City Schools submitted a special assessment accommodation request to the Virginia Department of Education. That request was submitted just a few short months before Kevin's scheduled so testing date. It was submitted because the state's current assessment policies do not allow the same assist of technology that Kevin uses successfully every day in the classroom to be fully integrated into his state testing experience. That request should have never been necessary. Federal law already already requires that accommodations provided during testing be consistent with those used in the classroom instruction. This is the core concept of functional equivalence under IDEIDA. And right now, Virginia's testing policies are failing to honor that principle. Kevin is a bright, hardworking sixth grade student. He has multiple diagnosed disabilities, including dyslexia, disgraphia, and discalculia. Despite those challenges, Kevin is an AB
019student in his classes, including math, where he has access to assisted technology. He uses tools like Equatio, read and write, speech to text, and teacher provided notes every day to participate fully and demonstrate his knowledge. But when Kevin sat for his math so the state's accommodation rules forced him to split his attention across two devices, two different Chromebooks, one device using TestNav and a second device running the various assisted tools he uses on a daily basis fluently in class. This split device or what we call swivel seat model adds unnecessary cognitive load, executive function strain, and procedural complexity. None of which tests Kevin's math skills, but all of which directly interfere with his ability to demonstrate what he knows. Now, the outcome was entirely predictable. Kevin, a B average student in math, failed his math
020so he didn't fail because he didn't know the content. He felt because Virginia's current policies forced him into an assessment environment that no longer resembled the supports he receives under his IEP. This isn't about equal access. It's about students being systematically penalized for their disabilities because of how we structure state testing accommodations. Virginia needs to fix this at the state level. The policies governing assisted technology accommodations for so assessments are outdated, misaligned with cap classroom practice, and functionally inequitable. I filed formal complaints with both the VDOE, you could see case number Charlie 25313 and also with the US Civil Office of Civil Rights. And if the board doesn't initiate policy review, I'll continue to press forward with legislators across Virginia as well. But right now, you have an opportunity to lead. The law is already
021clear. The question before this board is whether we're prepared to align policy with both sir and with what these students actually need to succeed. Thank you. Thank you. Ant Tatus followed by Letha Walker. Antatus. Letha Walker. Ti eps George Rubiline and Kelly Oza will be next. Thank you for letting me appear. I am Georgia Rubline as an associate editor of the VCM VCTM journal uh the Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics. in that journal which does not have a very very wide circulation. Uh there is a commentary that deals with a sort of uh an issue or a topic connected with the mathematics so I as an editor or associate editor of that journal I as and in keeping with good journalistic process, I am asking I am in inviting the board to make any
022response it wishes to the to the uh commentary in the latest edition of the journal. Uh we would the editors would be pleased to hear any comment from the board about this matter. Thank you. Kelly Oza followed by Tanya Robinson. Kelly Oza. Good morning. Morning. Um, my name is Tanya Robinson and I'm a I am a community founder and a member of the management committee of the Harvard School. Um, two of my children attended a homeschool pilot program that led to this school being formed. I have spent um countless hours on porches at community events and in the aisles of grocery stores telling this story because it matters. Today I want to share with you the Harbor School's homeschool pilot program transformed both my children lives and my own. Before CO 19, my kids were
023hanging in there at school, but I wouldn't say they were doing well. I noticed their progress seemed to have slowed since early elementary school. They were behind in reading and in math. They dragged their feet in the morning and didn't take much interest in the importance of school and how their education would impact their futures. I was worried and used the resources I had, the Boys and Girls Club um to get them as much help as I could. Then, as we all know, the world changed. Um COVID came and school was going to be online. I know my kids were borderline ADHD and I thought that I thought about online school for them and knew that they would be doomed. Desperate for anything to save them from learning online, I asked Sarah and Kelly if
024they could tutor my kids instead. They'd run a math camp and other programs at the Boys and Girls Club. My kids loved them and showed progress in short time. Um, I thought maybe they could help. Much to my excitement and relief, they agreed to give it a try. I could never have imagined what happened next. My kids completely changed their demeanor, their interest in their futures, their commitment to learning. Sarah and Kelly allowed them to slow down, found the gaps that they had, and helped them fill them. um they pushed them to their limits and allowed them to res recover and try again. They gave them the courage to say I don't know this and allowed them to be comfortable with both not knowing and wanting to know. They allowed them to overcome frustration gave
025them the breathing room they needed to and safety to face the uncomfortable and try again. What Sarah and Kelly learned became peaceful, something they hadn't been experiencing in school before. They had norms that they had to follow. They had to show up, be kind, and turn their phones off, which they willingly did. Putting those phones in the box, and finding out they could live without them. Um, show them they can do this and they could focus on their learning to get themselves from behind to on grade level. Today, my kids are actually be above grade level. Sarah and Kelly help my oldest get into um a private school, which is still here, is called Crystal Ray. and my youngest um return to public schools where he is honoral all year. Um and also this year
026I will have a senior, junior and a third grader. Um um they this could never they needed their that intervention. Most importantly, my kids are engaging their own features. Thank you ma'am. Bunme Eso followed by Wendy Little. Good morning board of education. My name is Boommy Esho and I'm community founder at the Harbor School. I live in the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. I started my career as an engineer, then an educator, then nonprofit leader, and now I'm a small business owner here in Richmond. I've spent over 20 years in the education space as an educator in and out of the classroom working with families in support of their children's education. I've done this this work around the country, especially in communities that look like me. I now lead important family engagement work around
027the country and I've worked closely with Virginia's out of schooltime programs. I've personally witnessed the work the Harbor School has done, especially as it relates to family engagement. I led a STEM family engagement activity with parents and caregivers and their children. Families felt seen and immediately were ready to sign up for the school. This is an opportunity to create a community school centering learners and families. I've met the students Tanya mentioned and have seen the changes that have impacted them. In fact, I heard stories of how at from the beginning some of these students were ones where they couldn't even work together with other children. They couldn't actually interact well and they have gone leaps and bounds to become leaders within the schools where they're in now in schools that are actually the premieres, the
028flagships here in Virginia. None of this could happen without having that community support that the Harbor School provides. And because of that, we believe that being able to co-design with families a program that truly represents who we are, people like myself in Virginia, in Richmond, is what the Harvard School will allow. Thank you. Wendy Little followed by Carter Malign. Wendy Little. Carter Malign. Good morning. Um, so I'm from Norphick as well. this uh singing group is from Norphick and uh my tax dollars paid for their school. Um I have a wife who's from Brazil. She's a pharmacist and I'm a musician. Um I went to the Cleveland Institute of Music and I went to the Eastman School of Music and that's to study the cello and I've played a lot of operas over there in
029the Dominion Center. I've played in Graanby High School was a member of the Virginia Symphony. I've played all over the state. I'm not here to boast about my musical abilities. I'm just telling you that's my level of expertise. My daughter has autism. And people with autism, they generally think of them in the public schools as being under the IDEA and the IEP. And they'll go through literature by experts like this one. This is a book by Peter Wright. He won a Supreme Court case in the on on special education. and he's from Virginia. But my daughter was moved by the Norfolk Public Schools out of that law, out of the IDEIDA, and into the Virginia Children's Services Act, and I've been complaining about it ever since. That law has ruined my daughter's life, and I'm
030sick of having to fight for it. Now, I have found a document from um from um Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It's a Jesuit uh school. It's quite famous and it's called the system of care and the author is Beth A. Strruel and the uh other person involved is Robert Freeman. This, I believe, shows that in 1986 at Georgetown University, the system of care concept started to get going. And I think nor I think Virginia legislated it in 1992 and signed it into law under um the governor at the time um Douglas Wilder. Now, my problem is when people publish documents that I'm treating them as being experts. You know, I'm kind of an expert in music. I think of these guys as experts in education. Here's the special education expert. Here's the system of
031care expert. These two laws don't work together. They don't work together. Is there's this and then there's this. and you go back and forth until your kid ages out of the system without a diploma. If these experts or any other experts publish something that is flagrantly untrue, they need to be prosecuted. And I don't just mean educators. I mean Anybody from the city of Norphick, any university, if they publish information that is untrue, prosecute them. Thank you, sir. Okay. Are there any other members of the public that would like to speak during public comment period? You may sign up or line up behind the microphone. Uh, good morning, Superintendent Gullixson and board members. My name is Todd Truit and I'm a parent of two public school students in Arlington. I first want to thank Miss
032Holton for her eight years of service on the board. Second, at the last board meeting, there was a discussion of an Alabama numerousy act and doing a similar bill for Virginia. I agree with Miss Holton. We do need one for Virginia, but the Virginia bill that was proposed last session was fatally flawed. Why? It removed Alabama the Alabama law's frequent usage of evidence-based and replace them with best practices. Imagine if the Virginia Literacy Act funded Lucy Caukins. That's what best practices would have permitted if it was in the VA. The VLA even had to be amended to specify the evidence-based did not include three queuing. And there is a big body of knowledge of evidence-based practices for elementary math. For instance, the US Department of Education's 2021 what's works clearing house math guide specified instructional
033methods of using explicit instruction and worked examples plus using timed exercises for math fact fluency. All of those instructional meth methods are strongly disfavored by the major math organizations because of non-evidence-based beliefs in romantic educational theories similar to balance literacy. Third, many parents are very thankful for the new advanced math autoenrollment law and the VDOE's great efforts to implement it. I especially like the VDOE's new guidance on acceleration pathways and the info on empirical evidence in support of acceleration. I also strongly support the new so reform law, especially the 10% of grade aspect. We've seen nationwide standardized test scores stay flat or decline while GPA soar. This will be a nice check on grade inflation. And in many Northern Virginia school districts, we have grading for equity, which allows for unlimited retakes of exams. As
034form institute reported, grading for equity has no empirical e evidence that it actually improves equity. The new so reform law will still allow for retakes of SOS, but only the first test grade counts for purposes of the grade. Lastly, I've talked to numerous parents and non-parents in Arlington about the cut scores. all very supportive of efforts to raise them to some of the highest in the country. Numerous parents said they were embarrassed to see we had the lowest cut scores in the neighbor in in the nation. My 70-year-old neighbor, a retired federal worker, said it was a violation of trust for the state to have set such low standards. And lastly, not in my prepared remarks, but I am surprised and shocked to hear that superintendent still do not understand the 25-year-old federal civil rights
035law for including English learners in accountability after three semesters. I'm happy to meet with VAS and connect them with the major nationals English learners, civil rights organizations who have strongly endorsed Virginia finally going to the federal standard. Thank you. Are there any any other speakers who wish to address the board today? Okay, seeing none, um we will move into our agenda. Um before I do that, I would like to take an opportunity though uh as JT stole our thunder. Thanks JT. Uh uh Miss Holton, we truly want to extend our greatest appreciation to you and your service to this board. Um and more significantly, your continued service to the Commonwealth. I I know that it is something deeply ingrained in you. Um, it's something that you'll never get out and those of us who have
036such a deep love for the Commonwealth are so thankful for others that have that same love. So, um, from from that perspective, I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart for all of the things that you have done throughout your tenure in all of your different capacities to serve the Commonwealth, whether it be the children of the Commonwealth or beyond, um, for the betterment and the impact that will last forever. So, thank you so much for your service. Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, Madam Superintendent, for my beautiful flowers. Madame Madam Chair, may I add some Miss Ashton? Um, I also just want to extend my gratitude for u Miss Holton. I um was a new board member and um I think you have really modeled civil public discourse. Um as the
037kids say, you stand on business for what you believe in. Uh and I have truly truly valued that. But I also think you have been a board member who has really just been a good friend to the board and kind of helped us build connections and bonds and agree to disagree, but at the end of the day still be friends. and I really um just appreciate you're modeling that and I'm just wondering what are you gonna do next because you're not done yet. Thank you, Mr. Rotheran. Yeah, I'll echo everything Miss Ashton said and I'll pick up where she left off. I suspect we've not heard the last of Miss Holton on education in Virginia and that's a good thing. She's an important voice. We've certainly had some spirited disagreements, but I would echo what
038Miss Cesy said, her deep commitment to the Commonwealth. I mean, starting when she was a judge and sort of a judge in a in a particularly both important but thankless area of the law. Um, and she's brought some of that sort of expertise as we've had to consider uh various issues that have come before before this board. But her long tenure of service as first lady, as secretary on the board uh is remarkable and the Commonwealth is lucky that it has people who are willing to forego many other opportunities to serve like that and everyone uh should be deeply grateful. Dr. Northern. Yeah, I'm I'm just going to pile on. Um I just feel like when I first joined the board, it wasn't 10 minutes later that I got an email from Anne Holton welcoming
039me to the board. Um and just telling me, you know, just how happy they were the board was to have me on the board. Um and that's not stopped. anytime I've had anything happen in my professional career, um she's always stopped to say, "Hey, good job." Or, "I appreciate your um your uh feelalty and observation of evidence." Um and I know that she shares my um love for evidence as well um and research. So, we will miss you. Thank you, Mr. Hansen. try not to be the caboose here, but um and just thank you for who you are and uh um just the commitment that you have to our children. And I think that's really the most important thing that we're all about here. And so just uh want to say thank you and also
040uh I think all of us when we joined I think you were the the welcome wagon for all of us to um feel uh appreciated and but also I just want to thank you for your tenacity to detail to you made us and our work as a board better because of your legal uh background and your um attention to detail And I I just really want to thank you for that as a body. Uh uh we have been richly blessed by your uh tenacity and uh just really your perspective and your expertise. And so just thank you, but mostly thank you for who you are and what you are. Superintendent Gixson, member Holton, thank you. You've been incredible support since I was appointed back in March. uh and a resource, but more importantly on behalf
041of the agency, you've been an incredible thought partner to our team um well before my arrival over the last eight years and then some. Um and we thank you for your service to the Commonwealth and most importantly keeping the focus on kids. Miss Alton, Madame President, I'm overwhelmed and and grateful um and wasn't expecting to say anything now, but I will u just very briefly thank you all for your kind words and um um thank our our our stakeholder groups uh as well, especially JT, those very very kind words. Um uh it has been an incredible honor to serve on this board through a fluke of the the system. I've been here for eight and a half years. It's hard to believe. Uh but I believe deeply in the mission of public education. Uh it's
042crucial to making democracy work uh in our melting pot country and uh when at its best can truly help overcome historic inequities but also do this melting pot piece where we help young people learn with each other and from each other. And that's what public education has been in my life and in my children's life and in the uh and so often uh rises to that level of success in the Commonwealth and this board is a small but important part of the big education ecosystem and it has been a privilege to be a part of it and to be with work with each and every one of you. Each and every one of you brings a unique and incredibly valuable perspective to the work we do together. Um um the the department has so many
043hardworking folks whose work is largely unnoticed and um um un unsung. And it's just been a great honor to watch you all do your great work over the years and over the you know the the the political changes and the winds that blow this way and that. You all keep plugging away at helping students uh u get a great education all across Virginia. I I I won't I can't resist. If you know me, I can't resist giving one word of parting advice, and that is to remember that I think we do our best work when we listen to and engage with the stakeholders who are involved in the day-to-day business of public education in the field. Uh they have such a unique perspective that helps inform the work we do. And the overwhelming majority of
044teachers, education leaders, um experts at the local level, parents, uh they share our stated goals of the board of ed of access to excellence, access to a high quality teacher for every student. Uh they live it every day. Of course, we must exercise our independent judgment, but we should hear them first on virtually every decision we make unless it's incredibly technical. That's why I'm such a stickler about the first and final um uh you know agenda items and about I do go to the trouble to make sure I read the public comment that's submitted in writing before each and every meeting even when it's added in at the very last minute. uh and uh and that's why I do try to work hard with these stakeholder groups which do you know the the the Virginia
045PTA does not take a position on an issue before this board without full vetting with their members members and their executive committee and likewise all of these other stakeholder groups. They are not just one person coming down here to speak. They represent the voice of the folks who are on the field on the ground in the field every day. And again, we can't always do what they want us to do, and sometimes they want us to do different things. And so, uh, but hearing their voices is an important part of the job. So, that's not resisting the the inclination to give a little bit of parting advice. Thank you. And I look forward to continuing throughout the end of the month to work with you. Thank you. Um, and with that, I know we're going
046to have um in in a little while, we will have an introduction from Office of Attorney General. Um, Miss Love is going to introduce us to some people. So, we'll pause in our agenda when she returns to the room. But, uh, that being said, I will move on to item A, please. First and final review to certify list of qualified persons for the office of division superintendent. Oh, and Miss Love has returned just in time before I move to item A. Would you like a moment to make your introductions, please, Miss Love? Uh, wherever. Yeah, the podium maybe, I guess, because I don't think we have another another microphone anywhere still set up. We added that screen. That's good. What's green? It is with the possible to JC Lier and Jim Shiper who joined our
047office last week uh in our section uh to give us some much needed help. Uh we've got a third attorney be joining us uh before the end of July after the next meeting. It'll be August before you meet her. But um it's not that uh I don't know that I want to go on the record. Um anyway, um this is in large part I want to express my gratitude in public to uh to the superintendent. Um the attorney general's office uh does have the authority to bill client agencies for some services that we provide and uh we do that but we also have the ability to enter into a memorandum of understanding uh that will provide um sort of a predictable um expense for for the client agencies as well as the office of the
048attorney general then has predictable income. So, uh, we have anou between the office of the attorney general and department of education that takes effect July 1. And with that additional funding, I was able to hire two now three more lawyers, which actually um will double my team. Um, I had two, well, actually last summer, we had one one of our two lawyers who was out on family leave. So, it was Abby Gump and me last summer. So, I feel extraordinarily wealthy and um it's my intention that everybody in our section is going to do work for some part of the department uh because gosh knows there's enough to go around. Um so, when that you have the chance to meet them today, I I should add that Jane comes to us from private practice and
049JC has spent several years working in local government, uh which I think is where the rubber meets the road. So, they bring us great experience. Thank you so much. And I don't know whether to say welcome or I'm sorry, but I'll just go ahead and Yeah, I would like to say President Casey on behalf of the agency, we are ecstatic and cannot wait for this to go into effect on July 1st. Um, as someone with a jurist doctor, we love lawyers and look forward to your partnership. Thank you, Madam Certainly. I mean, I I don't I won't wear out my welcome quickly, I promise. Um, anyway, moving on. Item A. Uh, is there a motion to wave first review and approve the items on the consent agenda? Second. Okay. Dr. Northern I, Dr. Arian, I.
050Mr. Hansen, I. Mr. Rotherham, I. Miss Ashton, I. Miss Holton, I. And chair votes I. Okay. Um, item B, first and final or I'm sorry, final review. Uh, board will remember that we heard this item on first review last month. Um, and Amanda Navatrol is back for the final review. Good morning, President Cesy, Superintendent Gullixson, and board members. At the May board meeting, an updated version of procedures for initiating an academic year governor school was presented on first review. As you may recall, this is a procedural document that was originally approved by the board in 1998. This is a document that supports planning committees wishing to craft a new academic year governor school proposal to bring before the board of education for approval. In the past few weeks, the department has sought feedback from stakeholders
051on this document to include a Virginia education update article, an announcement on the academic year governor school web page, and specific outreach to the following organizations. The academic year governor school directors committee, the new river valley governor school for arts and humanities planning committee. the Virginia Association of School Superintendent, the Virginia Schoolboard Association, the Schoolboard Alliance of Virginia, the Virginia Parent Teacher Association, and the Virginia Advisory Committee for Advanced Learning. Overall stakeholder feedback from schoolboard members, parents, academic year governor, school directors, organizations, and superintendent supported the updates to this document. We are grateful for the to the schoolboard alliance of Virginia for providing detailed feedback about needs in the field regarding the governance and operability of academic year governor schools for new schoolboard members and our office plans to release a technical assistance resource to
052meet this need later this year. Updates to the document from the original 1998 version include removal of language associated with proposed programs entering into a contract with the department which currently does not comply with code. Addition of expectations for technical support including an evaluation timeline for new programs. Realignment of the document into part one and part two for easier usability. updates to the requirements for administrative procedures to align with current best practices and per board request documentation of the planning committee stakeholder engagement efforts as part of the proposal. If approved, the final version of this document will be communicated in the Virginia education update and department staff will provide technical assistance on this updated document to stakeholders as needed. It will also be shared with current academic year governor school directors as well as with
053stakeholders and divisions which have expressed interest to initiate a new academic year governor school. The final board approved procedures for initiating an academic year governor school will be used with any new academic year governor school applicants and will be published on the department's web page. Final review is requested for these updates to comply with current code and regulations and maintain updated procedures for future academic year governor school proposals. The superintendent of public instruction recommends that the board of education receive this item for final review. Thank you. I would just like to say thank you so much for hearing the board and our requests at the last meeting um and providing us with the redline version so we're able to see the specific changes. So, we're really appreciative of that. Um, does anyone have any questions
054or comments on this before we move? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the governor school approval process and for final review? So, move. Second. Any discussion? Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian. Hi, Mr. Hansen. Hi, Mr. Rotherham. Hi, Miss Ashton. I Miss Holton. And chair votes I. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay. Item B, Miss Conway. And is Mr. Williams going to join you? Yes. No. Yes. Yeah. Good morning, members of the board. I am Jenna Conway, our chief of early learning and specialized populations. Um, uh, last month you had under first review the BQB5 guidelines for 2526. I walked you through some of the data and the information um, as well as highlighted the four shifts going into the 2526 year. uh the implementation of VA connects which connects uh link B5 the
055early childhood data system with vows the literacy SK screener from preK3 through 8th grade in both English and in Spanish and VKRP which is for preschool and for kindergarteners looking not only at literacy but math social skills and self-regulation um I'll highlight I know Miss Holton asked a few question about numbers and kind of presenting the broader arc of the last uh uh not only four years but eight years which uh lines up nicely with your tenor miss uh Miss Holton. But um just a couple of important stats as we go into this third year of VQB5. So in 2018 the state of Virginia served about 37,000 children with public dollars including 19,000 children on the childcare subsidy program 18,000 children uh only four year olds in VPI and 250 children on mixed delivery. In
05620 uh 26, FY26, this Commonwealth is slated to serve 75,000 children with public funding. So more than 104% increase. 48,000 children on childcare subsidy. 25,000 children on BPI representing a 7,000 increase. It's a 29,000 increase on subsidy and just under 2,700 children with mixed delivery. So across the board, significant investment in giving more kids, more parents choice to high quality education. In 20 uh the fall of 2017, approximately 64 school divisions participated in VKRP and there was not a pre-K tool. Uh as of this year, 131 school divisions participate, all kindergarteners and a significant portion of preK and preK4. And in 2018, fewer than a thousand classroom observations were completed and only one in six programs participated in our quality measurement and improvement system. Uh and as you all uh hopefully today approved the VQB5
057guidelines for 2526, you know that that involves more than 31 class 31,000 classroom observations, upwards of 30 3,400 sites, 12,000 classrooms, um 34,000 educators, and um hundreds of thousands of young Virginiaians. So with that key update, on behalf of our state superintendent, I recommend that the board approve the VQB5 guidelines for 2526. Are there any questions here? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the guidelines for 2025 2026 of the early childhood unified measurement and improvement system VQB5 as presented in this item? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Just a comment that thank you uh uh Miss Conway for sharing that data and it really is remarkable and it is you know you're way too modest but very closely overlaps your tenure here. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian I. Mr. Hansen.
058Hi. Mr. Rotherham. Hi. Miss Ashton I. Miss Holton I. And chair votes I. Thank you. And moving on to item D. Excellent. So the next item and I have uh Assistant Superintendent Jeff Williams here in case I need a lifeline for any questions. But last month we also walked you through uh uh for first review the combination of the general procedures and the background check. So combining into one regulation the kind of expectations for what it takes to get a license and have background checks if you are a licensed child day center or childcare center in the Commonwealth. uh in that presentation uh which you do have as part of your materials but I I won't go back through it unless there are questions but it described a process that went back to the notice
059of regulatory action in 2021 involved two rounds of extensive public comment three endorsements by the early childhood advisory committee. So at each stage in the process making sure it goes to the body that broadly represents our early childhood sector. This is a combination of what previously was two different uh regulations. It sort of removes a lot of the statutory references if they're already covered in federal or state law and adds clarity around some procedures particularly related to uh appeals. Um on behalf of the superintendent, I recommend that this board approve uh the uh general procedures and background checks for child day centers. Are there any questions on this item? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the final regulation for the general procedures for lensure and background checks and the fasttrack action to repeal fee
060requirements for applications as presented in this item and delegate to the department authority to make any changes necessary to comply with the administrative process act or the Virginia register act. So move second. Is there any discussion? Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian, I Mr. Hansen, hi. Mr. Rotherham, hi. Miss Ashton, I Miss Holton, I. And chair votes I. Thank you, Miss Conway. Excellent. I'd also be remiss if I didn't take a moment to recognize uh Miss Holton. And uh I don't know that I've ever come in front of this body and not gotten rigorous and thoughtful questions from Miss Holton. In fact, when I prepare with the team for the board, we often ask ourselves, "What would an ask? in in preparation. But in all seriousness, your servant leadership, your asking of questions, your modeling uh
061civil discourse has been a lesson. And as a member of the department for the last seven and a half years, and as a public school parent, including two uh youngsters who attend Lynen Holton Elementary, I'm very very grateful for your service. Okay. Item E, Miss Bura. Good morning, President Cesy, members of the board. I am Christina Berna, the chief operations officer for the Department of Education. Um, item E before you today is a first and final review of the recommendation regarding the literary fund loan application approval for the release of loan funds. Um, the department conducted one application process in 2023 and two loan application processes in 2024 for school divisions to apply for construction loans from the literary fund. One school division, Bedford County, that applied for loans during this application period has now
062submitted all the required documentation needed for their requested loan to be released by the board. The loan is requested for Bedford County for an auditorium renovation and additions at Stanton River High School. Bedford is requesting a literary fund loan for this project in the amount of $14,680,000 payable over 20 years and is eligible for a 3% annual loan interest rate. The project application is included in your board packet and on behalf of the superintendent of public instruction, it is recommended that the board wave first review and approve the release of these literary fund loan requested to Bedford County Schools based on the loan amounts, terms, and eligible an annual interest rates requested in their loan application. Are there any questions on this item? Okay. Is there a motion to wave first review and approve the
063release of literary fund loan dollars requested by Bedford County School Division based on the loan amounts, terms, and eligible annual interest rates requested in their loan applications as presented in this item. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Dr. Mr. Northern I, Dr. Arian, I, Mr. Hansen, I, Mr. Rotherham, I, Miss Ashton, I, Miss Holton, I, and chair votes I. Thank you. All right. Item F, Miss Burda. Thank you, President Cesy. Um, this item is a first and final review of revisions and reallocation from the school construction assistance program both in fiscal year 22 and 2024 due to some unused funds. The school construction assistance program has funding that needs to be reallocated due to a reduced scope of work by previously awarded projects. In 2022, Petersburg City Public Schools had a project where they needed
064to modify the scope of work. This modification changed the the project cost from $90 million to $85 million. This is resulted in a reduction of the awarded school construction assistance program funding from 27 million to 25.5 million. Also, Southampton County is not implementing the approved project that was approved during the 2022 school construction assistance program award. That total award was $5.55 million. This reduces the scope and releases unused funds for these two projects from 2022 of $7,50,000. Also from the 2024 school construction assistance program, Lynchburg City School has canled one of their previously awarded projects. This has resulted in the release of 1,76575, making a total project balance available from the two award years of 8,81575. We are recommending to the board that we reallocate funds that were below the line and didn't have enough
065funding to support during those processes. Those pro those projects are specifically Pennsylvania County for Union Hall Elementary School in the amount of 555,496. This would complete their project funding because we only had a certain balance to award to them during the project um based on funding availability. Additional award for Giles County Eastern Elementary School project. They are eligible to receive now the full project in 2,616796. And lastly, Richmond City Belleview Elementary School Project is eligible to receive their entire request of $274,000. This redistribution represents allocation of 3,446292 for projects that were not previously funded. One important note, as you will know, that that's a difference in the balance between what's available and what we are recommending to you. And part of that is because the next project on the list is actually for Richmond City
066and it's Woodville Elementary School. And instead of granting them partial award through the reallocation, we are holding because your next agenda item is going to include them as fully funded in their 25 application process. So with those pieces of information, it is recommended based on the um input from the public superintendent of public instruction that you reallocate the awards as described for the 22 and 24 processes. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Uh first question that I have is around the Pennsylvania county partial award. Are they going to accept this or have they chosen other alternatives to fund their project or are we certain that they are in need of this? So, they were partially funded. Um, certainly we can have that communication. VJ Romarrain is our director of support services
067here and we will have that conversation with them once we approve that. I'm almost certain that they probably will take advantage of the state funding, but I can't speak for them until we're able to have that conversation. Okay, other questions, Miss Holton. Thank you, Miss Bertha, for this work, especially reallocating the funds to get them to the divisions to be used as quickly as possible. I'm I'm not sure I understand, but across several different items, I think I'm understanding correctly that you uh even after reallocating funds, you have an additional 5 million left. And as you said, you I understand why you're not allocating it in the 23 24 pot, but why are you kicking it over to the 26 pot rather than the 25 pot, if I'm making sense? And I do see on
068the 25 list that you have a an unfunded or only partially funded uh request in Petersburg. So there's at least some gap in the in the 25. Yes, ma'am. So there's a couple of timing differences. Based on the budget that was approved and we moved forward with the application process for fiscal year 25, there was $80 million available. Subsequent in the finalized budget on May 2nd, there was an additional $170 million awarded. So our plan is to bring to you before we're going to have two processes in 26. Basically to reallocate to distribute the additional $175 million. So, we're going to marry the $5 million that's left over to the additional funding that was provided by the general assembly to distribute that in an application process early in fiscal year 26. So, not waiting until
069the the spring for the normal process. And then subsequent to that in the spring, we will also have an allocation process for the fiscal year 26 award amount that's available to us of 110 million. So, there's a lot of money that will be distributed in fiscal year 26, but in order to make sure school divisions have adequate time to really think through projects. Um, we are marrying that additional $5 million that's afforded to us through the reallocation process to grant additional awards in the early part of 2026. Matt, so I appreciate that the 26 allocation isn't going to be um um that it's going to be relatively quick. I get that. But but still I think I'm right and this again maybe goes to the next item but that though you're still not fully funding
070everything in requested in the F and that qualified in the FY25 allocation. So is there a reason why it makes more sense for this 5 million to go into the 26 pot rather than the 25 pot? It really is a timing piece because our application process was underway before the finalized budget happened. And so all of this work was completed. So in order to give opportunity to other school divisions, that is why we chose to make that decision to marry it with 26 funding. So there is there is need still on the 25 list. You could theoretically allocate more money. We could allocate more money to that Petersburg project, but it wouldn't allow as much competition from others for th that that portion. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Superintendent Gixson. Um, thank you, Christina. I just
071also wanted to add um since I arrived at the agency, there's also been stakeholder requests for some additional webinars and trainings on how to actually apply. um a handful of school divisions had shared that they thought they were sort of complying with past protocols um but then ultimately weren't awarded. And so um we've been stepping back just to make sure that we are as transparent and clear as possible going into this new fiscal year. Um so that regardless of size or expertise at your division that it's really clear both from the schoolboard member side um as well as the leadership side at the division. Other questions on this item? Okay. Is there a motion to wave first review and approve the proposed reallocation of available funds in the SCAP FY22 and SCAP FY24 presented in
072this item? Is that a motion? Yes, he said. So moved. I didn't hear. Okay. Uh, it's been moved and seconded. Uh, I didn't hear. Is there any discussion? Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian, I. Mr. Hansen. Hi. Mr. Rotherham. Hi, Miss Ashton. I, Miss Holton, I chair votes I. Okay. Item G, Miss Ba. Thank you, President Cesy. Before you in this agenda item is the first and final review recommendation for school construction, school construction assistance program funding for the 2025 allocation. As I mentioned in the previous agenda item, there was $80 million available at the time we started the application process for the school construction assistance program application round this year. Um it's important to note that the this application process was in part due to a change that the board approved guidelines um in March
073to incorporate CTE regional programming into the uh allowable uses of the school construction assistance program. And so we really worked hard to make sure school divisions understood what those 13 criteria were and to ensure that regional CTE programs knew that they could apply and knew that they could access this funding. In order to achieve the funding, they had to achieve a 65 point uh on a 100 point scale score. Um we I am happy to tell you that we did receive 28 grant applications in this process. 25 from school divisions and three from regional CTE programs. Um, following the close of the application period, Mr. Romnner and his staff uh reviewed and scored all of the applications to ensure compliance with the 13 required criteria in the board's guidelines. Um, under those projects, grants are
074awarded based on 10, 20, or 30% of the approved cost, a minimum of a million dollar project, and a maximum of a hund00 million project. And the percentage distribution is based on the school division's local composite index and fiscal stress category as designated by the Virginia Commission on Local Government for localities containing in the school division. After submitting the grant applications, they were reviewed and scored. The board requires action in the appropriation act to approve the grant awards to school divisions. This item requests that the board approve the recommended grant awards for the school projects which meet the 65 point minimum and an overall recommendation to award the grant total of $80 million for 10 approved school projects and one regional CTE center after we we've ranked the projects. Um, I am happy to answer
075any questions that you may have, but it is a recommendation of the superintendent of public instruction to wave first read and to approve these grant awards as shown in attachment two of your board agenda item. Are there any questions on this item? Okay. Is there a motion to wave first review and approve the recommended grant awards for the school projects as presented in this item? So move second. Any discussion? Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian, I. Mr. Hansen, I. Mr. Rotherham, hi. Miss Ashton, I. Miss Holton, I and chair votes I. Thank you very much. And Mr. Chapman is up. Good morning, President Cesy, Vice President Hansen, members of the board, Superintendent Gullixson. Um, item H is what should be a familiar item at this point. Um, this item is collateral to the governor's executive order
07619, which requires, among other things, for each uh, executive branch agency to submit a unified regulatory plan by June 30th of each year. Um, the unified regulatory plan is not a binding document upon agencies, but it's really just a projection for citizens of the Commonwealth interested in what types of regulatory activity um, agencies and regulatory boards might be going undergoing in the next year. It's a reasonable pred uh projection. It does not need to be exhaustive. It certainly doesn't include things that may come up uh between now and submission. Um and you know things that come up based on need. Um but what we have is we've compiled a list of regulatory actions that we reasonably expect to be moving before the board either completion of current actions um some aspects of legislative implementation that
077we expect will be coming before the board. Um, and we've included a few of the guidance documents that we routinely update. Um, what we're asking is that the board approve this on first and final review. Um, the board has made a habit of of reviewing this document and approving it, which we certainly support. Um, but given the June 30 deadline, we'd love to be in compliance with the executive order and so we're asking that the board wave first review and approve the plan. Any questions or comments on this item, Miss Holton? Thank you. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chapman. I do see several items here that I I'm not sure why they're on in particular. I noted on page 21 the attendance uh uh HB2601 which requires local divisions to um directs make some guidance to
078local divisions about their daily attendance records and on item 26 which directs JARK to do a study of removal of books. Neither of those has any board of ed or department of ed component to them. Um we we do think that the um again that this this is a projection. There are aspects that in talking through that we may see that the attendance bill I believe if I'm correct um may require a slight edit to the uh board's regulations governing pupil accounting records. Um and so again it it may not come before it. What we've done is we we've given we're doing this in order to make people aware that there may be regulatory activity that this isn't binding upon. Um, and there's another aspect of the the textbook uh implementation process that might require
079the board to go back and edit its guidance document on the textbook process. Um, and so we we've included those really for uh, you know, for being thorough, but you depending on how this gets worked through the department, it it you're you are correct. It may not come before the board, but it's Well, there's certainly nothing in the the 26 the JARK study that that directs JARK to conduct a study. There's nothing regulatory for the board there. And and and frankly, I'm just concerned that you've got so many things on here that you're going to not be able to prioritize the things you should. And what I do see, for instance, the um the the math endorsements add-on legislation does require board action on that's page 17. Correct. And there is no de no timing
080listed on that one. No expected date. And I would hope that that one would be one that the board would prioritize. Likewise, uh there are um uh the the early childhood endorsement in special ed. That may be one we've already moved on, but there's no expected date. We may have begun some action on that, but but u but there's no expected date on that. And when you've got 20some things, I don't know why you're you're listing things that you don't have any responsibility for. And um so I just submit that perhaps it would be useful to clean those up by um removing items that don't require any board action andor if you wanted to clarify why they're there, it might make more sense. Um uh but uh yeah. And I do understand you've got a
081June deadline, but given that the board is actually not required to comply, you know, since we are a constitutional board, we we're complying with the request of the governor as a request and so we can comply with it in July if we need to take time to get this right. It's not a big deal. But I I do think that having things on there that you're not actually going to do and don't actually need to do and there's no statutory there there's nothing in the statutes that has any regulatory implications. I would I would submit if we prove it today that perhaps we eliminate the items on 21 page 21 and 26. And uh while while we don't know what deadlines to add on the ones that are missing deadlines that we encourage the department
082to give us some guidance on when they anticipate those coming back before us in the near future. Mr. Rotherham I think Miss Holden raises some important points. I have a clarifying question around them. So like my understanding was the intent of this is just to have like a wide aperture on what might happen but like what what is the intent of what we are going to do with this the department is going to do with this after we adopt it either on first and later on final or or first and final like what are we yeah um this is this is really something that the governor initiative the governor has uh has prioritized in order for awareness for the public. Um, this is more of a visibility document so that if somebody goes to what
083will happen to this document will be published on the the Virginia regulatory town hall so that folks can go and again get get a sense of the types of regulatory activity that the agency reasonably expects to you know come up over the course of the fiscal year. Um, so again it's not a binding document. It's really a notice document for folks who are looking for a single location of of the things that the agency expects will come up. But again, this is it's not binding on agencies for the the spots where there there aren't projected dates. Um my apologies for that. Some of those we are still working out the legislative implementation, but my guess is we'll end up putting an initial date of December. Some of those actions will be starting in uh you
084know, Nora's. Um the teacher endorsements, for example, need to go before Abtel, but those are likely not going to be Abtel doesn't meet again until September. And so there's, you know, some uh some uncertainties as far as when the actual regulatory activity will be able to start um on those. So can I ask the inverse then of Miss Holton's question? What activity is going on around that touches education across the whole of government that's not included here that we're that you're aware of? Obviously. Yeah. I I I think again this is this is pretty comprehensive what we can reasonably expect. This is a 28 page. Okay. I guess my question is like what's what's not included I guess. Yeah. the things the things that would not be included that would come up would be you
085know if there's some aspect of a bill that has been passed some aspect of legislative implementation that we are not yet aware would have uh a requirement to adjust a reggg but in in that situation um we have not been asked to go back and continually update the unified regulatory plan in the past um but OM does have a procedure where if we need to we can we can update that plan later. Yeah. Thank you. Other comments here um Mr. Mr. Chapman. Uh I I will ask the board uh for consent on this. Uh I think that what we probably should do here is um take this on first review and bring it to final review in July number one. Um and then ask to have the JARK piece removed in that process, please. and
086have a deeper analysis with dates and um other comments that have been made in order for the board to analyze it further in July. So, if there's no um I if the board is in favor of that or if there are any comments to the negative of this option that I'm presenting here, please speak now. But I would just suggest that we take this on first review and get some further cleanup here. um and take it on final review in July. You all good with that? I agree with that and would move that revised motion. Okay. Um so we'll take that on first review. Thank you. Thank you. Do I have to do anything? No. Good. No. Um okay. Item I, Mr. Chapman. Yes. Thank you very much. Um item I is u an item
087that came up. The board has uh recently undergone a periodic review of regulations of 8VAC 20-340 um which is its regulations governing you know driver education programs. Um after the periodic review the board approved a couple of small cleanup items um and in the process of doing that we discovered one further item that we thought worth an edit. Um this is a reference to what's called a document incorporated by reference into the regulatory uh chapter. Um which is the 2010 edition of the curriculum administrative guide for driver uh driver education Virginia. Um this document is just simply out of date. um we need to go about removing this and in the process we found that there's a little language edit that we think will um we we can remove it because this is already required
088in the statute that um driver education programs teach uh programs of qual at least equal quality as what's taught in public school. So, we think that that reference is strong enough to include not just the driver um education document and its updated uh successor documents um but also any other material that the the uh board and the department have put out for the driver education programs in public schools. And so we are we're presenting this on first review. Okay. Thank you. We will accept this item on first review and see you in July. Um, at this time we will take a 10-minute break um and come back to do item J, please. Thank you. Thank you all. We are back and we are taking item J, please. Mr. Jennings. Hello. Thank you. Good morning, Board
089President Cesy, Superintendent Gullixson, and board members. Thank you for having us here today. I am Mark Jennings, the executive director of accountability, and I'm joined by assistant superintendent of government relations, Miss Melissa Velasquez. Uh we have three presentations for you today. We're going to do these in chronological order. And the first will be on Virginia's school accreditation system. That'll be followed up with updates on the school quality profile. And then finally, we'll discuss the implementation of the school performance and support framework. The presentations are all online, but I think Mark needs to follow along with what's on the computer in front of him just so that he's Yeah. Pause for 60, please. 60 seconds. So on the slide two you're going to see uh the graphic that we've been referring to here um and it
090has the our bifurcated system on the left side you see the image where our Virginia school performance and support framework is uh that we've been coming you know presenting and sharing information uh webinars for the public engaging with stakeholders On the right side, you'll see the Virginia school accreditation system. Um, and as you see in our flowchart there, that has elements from the standards of quality and the standards accreditation. That information, which we'll talk about today, then leads to an accreditation designation, a fully accredited, conditionally accredited, accreditation denied. And then that leads to uh both public reporting and support uh around those elements from the standards of quality and the standards of accreditation, which we'll speak uh to today. And I'm going to ask my colleague today as we talk through both the standards of
091quality and standards of accreditation um some background and some history on these uh as we move forward in the presentation. Good morning board members. Um as I begin to age I I think I'm becoming the historian for the department. I uh I uh have spent a lot of time at the history of the department for multiple questions I've had to answer over the years. And so um they've asked me just to give a little bit of background for the public on on the standards of quality, the historical aspect and on the S SOA. So for purposes of the standard of quality, um our current constitution that we operate under was adopted and ratified in 1970 and the constitution went into effect in July of 71. And within that new constitution was article 8 section two
092which is requiring the prescription of the standards of quality by the board of education. And specifically that language is that the standards of quality for the several school divisions shall be determined and prescribed from time to time by the board of education subject to revision only by the general assembly. So the general assembly also codified those standards. And so the SOQ, this is believed to be um the very first ever undertaking by a state to require by constitutional mandate uh standards of quality for public schools. And I happened to be looking through um the old superintendent's annual reports back in 1938 and things like that just last night. Um they're online in one of the universities and so doing just a little bit more historical research. And um were you sleepless, Melissa? I'm a big
093nerd. But I love history. So, so but um yeah, the standards of quality by constitutional mandate, the first undertaking by a state to do so. Um in 1976, the standards were revised and giving priority to basic skills in reading, mathematics, and communication and minimums objectives for children in grades at that time uh kindergarten through six. And of course, the SOQ, as we call them, have been amended by the board and and revised by the general assembly many times over the past five decades. Um my previous stent with the department I had the privilege of working on a substantial revision and reorganization of the SOQ. Um in 2004 um that was a significant uh year. There was a significant influx of money from the Warner administration at the time in that reorganization. Um and that moves
094us into the the standards of quality slide. Um the current standards there are nine standards but standard three in particular requires the board to promulgate regulations establishing the standards for accreditation and those elements and that's done in accordance with the administrative process act of course um there are elements of that uh within the statute that requires the um SOA to address student outcomes and growth measures um instructional programs for the integration of technology administrative instructional staffing levels positions, including staff positions and supporting educ that support educational technology, student services, um library and media services, and the requirements that all children have to achieve to graduate from high school uh with one of the diplomas from the um board of education. I hit my advance button a little bit too far, but um and then of
095course requires school divisions to have community relations and the philosophy and objectives of this body, the public uh public education system in Virginia. So with that you know the requirement to uh prescribe the SOQ then the SOQ contains the requirement to promate the standards of accredititation and the standards of accreditation for the commonwealth are are are not new. Um, again going back in history, the first u um evidence we have of standards of accreditation in the Commonwealth is 1903 when there were historical um standards of accredititation. First starting with um requirements for high schools, requirements for uh elementary schools did not go into um the accrediting standards until 1970. Uh that was uh a recommendation of superintendent of public instruction at the time. And of course, if you go to our department website, um we
096have our standards of accredititation historical documents um on there back until 1970. So if you are a nerd like me and like to look at history, you can go back and look at the standards. Um and just as I had the privilege of working on the SOQ revisions in 2004, I had also the privilege of doing a substantial reorganization and reddraft of the S SOA in 2006 and again in 2008. Um I I I may have stopped having completely brown hair at the time. I think that's when I got my first gray hair uh during that time. But um that uh leads you to the next slide about the standards of accreditation um and that um um Mark uh um has for you. uh he's going to um add a few things but you know
097the S SOA is designed to uh provide the essential foundation of our educational program for our high quality um uh standards that we have in our schools for our students. Uh it is there to encourage the continuous evaluation, appraisal and improvement of those school programs. um so that we do continually raise student achievement and provide our students with the high quality excellent education that leads and prepares them for post uh um high school opportunities. And part of the S SOA, the integrity of that is to foster public confidence in our educational system, that we're evaluating schools and having high expectations for the school, school staff and students. And again to assure that the uh Virginia public schools and their institutions of learning that they have this resources that they need and are providing that to
098the students. Um and then of course the outcome measures effectiveness of those schools and what is being provided to students. So, I gave you the historical perspective. The real genius up here is Mark, and he's going to go over the changes that uh um school division had. Thank you, Melissa. So, we'll move to slide four. Uh in slide four, you see they're comparing the standards of accreditation. Uh and what we want to share with you is the differences between the 2017 uh regulations establishing standards for accreditation. Actually, it's slide six, my apologies. and uh the Virginia stands of accreditation adopted in 2024. Uh and so what I want to share with you is only one new requirement was added between the 2017 version and the 2024 version. And that was in the area of comprehensive
099support and improvement schools or CSI schools. And what they'll do is demonstrate that on their school improvement plan which they were already being required to do that they are implementing that with fidelity uh that improvements being made. uh this is a connection between both federal and state law. Under federal law, these schools are are required to demonstrate how they're allocating resources. And so this satisfies federal law and now state regulation. Um and so that piece was added. You can find uh in this section as well. It talks about schools doing a needs assessment to develop their plans. All schools are expected to do that. That was previously in chapter 131400A. It was brought over here for consistency so the schools would see the connection. And so it's not a new requirement. It was just making
100it more cohesive. Finally, you see actions prescribed for schools. Well, previously in chapter 131, it was based on performance levels in the old state accreditation system. Now it's based on federally identified schools. So the actions uh were still being prescribed based on you know the methodology based on whether the state accreditation system or the now the cohesive uh performance and support framework. So really again not new. Uh but the one item that was new is the area of the the CSI schools uh looking at their school improvement plans uh and making sure they're following those with fidelity. Now on slide seven you see overall chapter 132. We're going to drill down into these uh different areas. Uh there are nine parts and what we're going to spend our time on today is part nine, the
101school accreditation section. And so if you move there to section 300, you find the language that the board shall adopt a process to accredit schools based on the school accountability requirements and student outcome and growth measures as well as compliance with standards for student achievement, school instructional programs, uh instructional leadership, facilities and safety, school and community communications described in this chapter. Again, this language uh is followed from the statute and the standards of quality that Melissa was speaking about. Uh and so again we're talking here about the decoupling uh between accountability and accreditation. Furthermore, it goes on and says the department shall develop guidance templates and exemplars rubrics to de demonstrate how it objectively measure school and division compliance which each of the standards of accreditation described further on which we'll look at. All such
102guidance shall be submitted to the board which is what we're doing today for approval and final guidance shall be published on the department's website. Uh and so I'll share with you where we are now and the vision of where we're headed in the work to come. So we'll move on to slide nine and again these are taken verbatim from the regulations. Again this information is not new. Uh you see here the principal of each new or existing school and the division superintendent shall annually document and report to the department of education in a manner prescribed by the board satisfactory evidence of the following. And what's going to happen between slides 9 through 13 is you're going to have a list of 11 items. Again, I draw to your attention that these 11 items only one
103item is new uh from the previous 2017 standards and that's specific to our CSI schools. The other items have been uh we were looking back have been in uh the regulations for quite some time. Some of the wording might changed here and there but the essence uh has been there for quite some time. We also want to share here the role of the principal. Again, we look back to 1970s and saw the same language as Melissa was sharing around secondary schools that the principles had the expectation uh to provide this information through their division superintendent uh to the department. And so we're doing work now with the different associations to do trainings with principles around these items. uh and that'll be moving forward for the 2526 school year uh to ensure that both divisions and
104schools are aware uh of the regulations and what's required and that they're meeting these. I do want to share with you an important study that was done in 2021 from the Wallace Foundation called how principles affect students in schools. And in that study, which was a great synthesis from another 200 studies, uh they found four key drivers for effective behaviors from principles. And one of those was in how principles manage personnel and resources, how they build a productive school climate, how they foster collaboration and an instructional focus. And so here we see again the importance of resource allocation and how principles are managing those resources and the effect that it has in student achievement which again helps as we talk about accountability through the performance system as well as the accreditation system. So as I
105shared earlier as you uh navigate through the next few slides you'll see the list of these 11 items. Uh not all schools will do all 11 items. Uh when you get to uh 10 and 11, those are specific to 10 is specific to federally identified schools and 11 gets to schools that have may have been non-compliant the year before and they're addressing if they were non-compliant, what are they going to do differently. Now I'm going to take you to slide 24. And on 24 we're working through our flowchart here. We've talked about the elements, the standards of quality. Then we get to our standards of accreditation. We've seen our list and you have this graphic. Thank you. 14. Sorry. The eyes. The eyes. Thank you. So what you see in this graphic here is moving
106down to the accreditation designations. And again, a school will receive a fully accredited conditioning credit accreditation denied. So again going back to that original slide with our two flowcharts, schools will receive uh or earn a score out of a 100red for the performance framework. uh they will also have a designation as far as a performance category and then schools on the accreditation side will have either fully accredited condition or accreditation denied and that moves us to slide 15 which will talk about these three. So fully accredited uh based on the regulations or all required evidence is submitted to the department all evidence is satisfactory and approved for compliance. If we talk about conditioning a credit then there's a piece of required evidence that's been submitted but it was determined to be unsatisfactory and the school
107will have the opportunity su to successfully submit additional evidence uh to meet the conditions of the department and then could become fully accredited. Accreditation denied is a school that's been designated conditionally accredited uh but the school or school division fails to submit the required additional documentation and over a pattern of time that would trigger additional actually action by the board, presentations to the board. Um so again to begin with there's quite opportunities that schools would have if they're conditionally accredited to submit the artifacts to then move to fully accredited. So I want to share with you some next steps and we're now on slide 17. Uh I want to share with you a study that was done uh that was commissioned in 2018 by the uh for the joint legislative audit and review commission or
108as we refer to JARK and they rep approved this study in 2018 to look at the role of educating students in Virginia uh evaluating the department of education. This report was published in 2020 and in that report the first recommendation they had from this is that the VDOE the department could do more to effectively supervise local school divisions. You'll find the table uh from that report that shows you know the feedback they have as far as the criteria um and areas where the department was strong but again areas where the department could improve. This is important and I'll read to you uh the quote here that you're seeing on slide 18. uh VDOE is fully meeting some but not all criteria for effective supervision of local school divisions and then they refer to the table.
109VDOE efficiently collects and reports compliance information and data from school divisions for 41 federal and state requirements. School divisions also rate VDOE's guidance and assistance for reporting compliance with state standards highly. However, the long-standing approach VDOE uses to supervise school divisions has limitations. VDOE primarily supervises divisions by asking them to self-certify whether they are complying with state standards. The agency independently verifies compliance for some but not all standards and monitors implementation of corrective actions for federal standards but does not always do so for state standards. In addition, information collected from school divisions is not always adequate to determine compliance. Given the substantial amount of funding the state provides to the public education system, the extensive standards schools must comply with, and the importance of providing a quality education to each child, consideration should be given
110to strengthening VTOE supervision of school divisions. More comprehensive and effective state supervision for a subset of key standards could help to ensure that all school divisions meet their educational responsibilities. This is a report we refer to in the department quite a bit. Um, and so in this area, this is something we were looking back at uh, as we talk about Virginia's school accreditation system. And so I bring you to the next slide. And so I'm sharing with you where we are now, but where we're headed. uh and so for 2526 moving into the new school year thinking about uh the evidence here from JARK and also from that study uh the department did em embark on a pilot program and that was submitted uh after that was completed and that was focusing on the standards
111of quality uh compliance but is still around these themes of monitoring and report and so I share that with you and I have a copy of it with me here but I share that with you because what we're doing is moving forward We're examining what we've learned from these other studies and programs, these lessons learned. Um, as we met with divisions, all 131, uh, we we've examined the data, what did we learn there that we can move forward with? Um, and so I'm sharing that with you because we don't want to, you know, repeat. Uh, we want to learn from it and and grow and and continuous improvement and do better. And so for the 2526 school year, we are developing a new office under the chief operations officer to have staff focus solely on
112supporting schools with accreditation and cross collaboration with other offices in the department. Uh secondly, we are going to be developing additional guidance, templates, exemplars, and rubrics to demonstrate how the department will objectively measure school and division compliance with each of the standards of accreditation. That's taken verbatim from the regulations. The department's working on a process to collect, review, and provide feedback on school and division documents and developing an implementation plan and training schedule for the fall of 20 2025 for school divisions. This is something we're doing in partnership with stakeholder groups. We've already been meeting with superintendent organizations through regional meetings. Uh we met with VAS. We've met with the secondary uh principal association. We have meetings scheduled with the school boards associations uh the elementary uh school association uh to have them come alongside
113us and give us feedback through this process. Again, we have lessons we've learned from an earlier study we've done uh over multiple years. And so we're taking that working with the stakeholders group to build a very robust system to uh credit our schools where in Virginia the expectation is all schools are fully accredited and they can be and so we're going to be looking for evidence where principles can showcase how their schools are satisfying these requirements. What you'll find on the next slide is we want to share with you that the 11 items I I drew your attention to earlier previously for quite some time have been embedded on the standards of quality compliance report. Our division superintendents have been filling this out for I will say decades. And so we've pulled those items out.
114And so what we're asking for today for the first review is you're seeing those items pulled out of that report. On your screen there on the slide on the left side you have the standards of quality compliance report from last year. You see one of the items uh numbered five staffing requirements and you see you know the code cited chapter 131240 and you have three bullets that give you some explanation to that. On the right side you see our proposal here. It's now number four administrative and support staff. We've unpacked and this is now 132 230. We've unpacked through all those bullets uh the specific regulations so that both division superintendents and school principles have greater clarity on what is meant by staffing requirements. You know, previously they would have to go click on the
115code and read and search and find. What we've done here is we've unpacked it for them so they have it right there. And in fact with this document if you click on those links it'll take you specifically to the regulation with that highlighted. This is not something new. It's not something the department's created as far as, you know, the regulations. They're there, but it helps draw you to the language so you see how how this information connects. And so this area we wanted to just highlight for you so you would see uh the differences uh and so that both school principles, divisions uh could look at this and see sort of the expansive nature, the clarity, the transparency around what what schools are required to do. On the next slide you have here we're asking
116for first review of Virginia's school accreditation report. Again in this document and it's attachment one here uh publicly available. These pages go through the 11 items we've discussed earlier and it again unpacks it articulates for you all the embedded regulations under that area and so anyone uh the public community members principles uh would have great understanding of what is meant in the regulations under these areas. The first one, promotion and retention. What what is included in that? Uh what what do the regulations say? And then it walks through whether graduation requirements, we talked about staffing requirements, uh school plans, um and on down the list. So I want to summarize now for you on slide 22. Uh so to be clear for school year 2425 that is now concluded, uh schools are finishing. uh division
117superintendents will still complete this report. We again have pulled it out of the standards of quality compliance report for greater clarity and understanding as we build the system, but division superintendents will still complete this report. Again, only one new requirement was added since the 2017 regulations, and that's specific to CSI schools. They would complete that. The proposed report we share with you today uh draws from our the JARK study that we referred to using even our own findings and the pilot study that was done subsequently after that. I think you're seeing the proposed report provides more depth and clarity on the existing regulations and provides opportunities for divisions to showcase how they're fulfilling these requirements in alignment with the board's guiding principles and public reporting. this information will be shared with the public uh and
118to be more transparent on how schools are meeting these obligations and this will allow schools to document how they're satisfying the Virginia stands accreditation uh and showing their commitment to public education higher expectations for its students and utilizing the resources to improve our student outcomes. So at this time the superintendent of public in instruction recommends the board receive for first review the Virginia school accreditation report. So, um I just want to take a moment to just say, uh I am really sorry that the board was not properly informed prior to now on this particular issue to get information sooner to the field. And really specifically, I'm super thankful for Superintendent Gullixson in her identification of the work that should have been done by the board. um as she is leading us now with uh the
119highest integrity and efficiency and effectiveness as we move forward. Um I appreciate her commitment to the work to have updates each month on this particularly critical issue and area of work. Um and additionally I want to from the bottom of my heart thank the department staff um for their collaboration handholding moving forward in this process because without their flexibility and their expertise moving us down this pathway um we couldn't do the work that has to be done. And so we will be looking at this over the next um several months through the lens of accreditation for the board and our work um throughout the summer and then through the fall. So just so that everyone is aware of the direction that we're going in. Um I I do want to make a specific comment on
120slide 20 and 21. I do think that this is going to be um a particularly valuable change for those in school divisions who are responsible for policy and informing um their school boards on how to move forward with these policies and procedures around those policies. So, um, I think this is going to be really super helpful for the field and I'm thankful for the work that the department has put into this. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? Mr. Rotherham. Thank you, Madam President. Um, I want to echo everything uh that you just said and underscore particularly how grateful we are for the department, the work that's been done and for Secretary Gulix and your leadership uh in getting us here. Um, I'm excited about this. I think like part of making sure
121that public schools stay as a broad-based institution is really transparent reporting um about what's going on and communication. And this I think is a is a fantastic step forward and and really during my time on the board um the most important thing I think that we that we've done. Um but it's also an opportunity for a lot of confusion. So can you talk about how are we going to make sure we've got a new performance framework coming in and there's pieces coming into play on that with we have reports on the agenda today on some of the processes on that. We're gonna have um the accreditation reports which again I think are great like what is our effort to communicate to stakeholders um and the public what's going on and the difference between these things
122and so forth and have because it seems like there's an opportunity for some confusion. So my next presentation is uh we're going to address that but I I'll answer now and then uh I'll elaborate on the next presentation. U we're beginning our messaging now and we're very excited. We have a new communications director who's beginning at the department. Very excited about that and getting the communications again started early. Um you heard earlier some a public comment around when this information is released. And so we had talked you know with the word in Virginia accreditation and the weight that it carries and sort of the understand the public do you separate those you do at the same time? And so you heard the public comment earlier um from VAS that we do everything at one time.
123Part of that is and we've met with superintendent heard that feedback before is that when you stag a release of information which I'll address later you know again it's going back to your boards back to the public having to explain things and so u we'll ask the board around that too your thoughts on how this information gets released but you'll see uh in my next presentation some steps we're already taking to separate and clarify what accreditation means uh what the performance categories mean how that's being reported publicly and to really be clear around accreditation comes from satisa satisfying these 11 items and then accountability performance category comes from the framework and so beginning that messaging now and our goal here is to really equip our divisions our school principles the public that when they look
124at these public reports that we're speaking with one voice one message so we've been discussing uh releasing soon one pagers again you're going to find in my next presentation we've already started making changes to the school quality profile um to really start shifting the narrative and being very clear around that. Um so in this process again you'll see in the next presentation but for the accreditation uh page on the school quality profile again it'll be based on their their the requirements there these 11 items versus based on academics and so again just starting to shift that narrative. Yeah I think that input output thing is going to be very important. I mean other states there's so much information here which is great. I'm thinking like of California where I mean where parents basically get it's
125like a Picasso when it gets to you this sort of mosaic of colors and and I mean and you'll hear from people who work in the sector professionally and they say they have trouble making heads or tails of it and some people out there say that's might even be um uh by design. Um and so I just want to make sure because it seems like it's be very easy for people to be confused to pick the one that they like more or less. Um, and this that we're very clear. One of these is outcomes and what's going on and one of these is inputs. They're both important, but they're measuring two different things. And it just seems like there's, you know, with so many moving parts, I just think we're going to have to be
126just extremely focused um, uh, on that. Thank you, Miss Sultan. Uh just to follow up on that, am I correct in understanding uh Mark, I appreciate your very clear presentation, but the under the um old system and continuing now, accreditation denied is going to be very rare, hopefully zero, right? that a school will only be accreditation denied if they haven't complied. The department's worked with them and haven't been able to get them into compliance and brings the matter before the board for a board vote. I think that's actually required by the statute. Absolutely. Yeah. The statute is very clear that multiple measures are in place both on the department's responsibility, the schools, multiple opportunities before it would get to an accreditation denied status. So on this input side of things, essentially what we're talking about
127is schools are going to be fully accredited if they've got all their paperwork straight and they're going to be conditionally accredited if they if the divisions and the department are still working on the paperwork conversation, so to speak. It's not really, you know, I to Mr. Rotherham's point, the public communication will all be around should all be around the focus on the accountability framework. um that the accreditation is really going to be inside baseball. Um um and that's by design. Yeah. So remember that was like the whole point of us moving to that bifurcated system was to ensure that schools were all on that same level playing field and capable regardless of location you know funding any of those things to be able to be on that same you to reach that accredititation status. So,
128a couple of other things just uh if I may. Um I I appreciate the fact that you are uh working hard with the um stakeholders and particularly the superintendents and principles associations. I I'll just point out that while I understand there are no new requirements. If you look at I think it's slide 20 u the the left hand side require you know this is one of 11 items. The lefthand side requires divisions to say yes to one question. The right hand side, the new one, requires them to say yes to one. And I think that's going to be clicking through on a compliance document. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. And then there's 11 more that have broken down. And I understand the reasons why we're doing this and I
129think it's useful to gather this extra information. But just in terms of the ease of submission, the um the mechanical process of how you have the technical process of how you have this uh these reports submitted. I'm confident you all can work with the stakeholders to make sure it's not a burden of a whole lot of extra compliance, but rather is um helping them go through the decision tree to make sure they're in the right place on all those extra pieces, but without the last thing any of us wants is more bureaucratic um um steps. So, I appreciate the fact that you're working with them and that's just a comment. Um and so c can I just jump in real quick on that? So I think the the purpose in that so if you look
130on the left side the school division is in compliance with staffing requirements including teaching loans per and planning periods. So many of those questions speak to that in a way more detailed sense. And so in from from my perspective, the feedback that I provided was um just asking school divisions to go and do the work of what does staffing compliance mean. That means they have to go through and look at all of these things and see all of these staffing compliance requirements that are laid out on the right side. So I wanted my feedback was it's necessary for them to have this this roadmap laid out for them um in order to just make lives easier um instead of having to do that digging and instead of reinvent inventing the wheel in every single school
131division. Let's just lay it out for them and show them exactly what what um the things are that they have to do as far I mean this that just small example of the staffing requirements piece just over here is just far more detailed and spelled out about exactly what staffing requirements means. So that was the point. Thanks. And I am that you are helping me remember one other thing I see the difference between the lefthand side and the right hand side. And again I'm sure you all are working to figure this out. But the leftand side is designed to be answered by the school division. The right hand side some of that's the school division and some of that's the school. So you know is one form going to be some of the submission going
132to be from principles and some of it from divisions or is it going to be the division submitting on behalf of all of their principles? And again, just figuring out the ease of compliance. Um, I'm sure you all are working on that. So, I'll provide some feedback. We're working right now um on a different platform to collect this information really with that sense of being user friendly. And so, we've been talking through sort of the clicks, the number of clicks to answer the items and sort of by default it's this or sort of uh making it and we're going to get stakeholder feedback on that. For 2425, the divisions will be submitting this on behalf of all their schools. Moving forward, principles would complete this. But to your point as well, some of these items
133are specific to the division and we're not going to ask the school, you know, the division would satisfy that requirement answer on behalf of all the schools. And so, and some of these items you'll see, they're specific to elementary schools. So, we wouldn't put that for the high school. And so, we're working through that in the future as we, you know, develop this. If I'm a high school and I log in and my school's listed there, I'm going to get items that pertain to secondary schools. And so, you will see the numbers be reduced based on the type of school. But for 24-25, the divisions will submit one on behalf of all their schools. Moving forward, 2526, the principles would end up uh completing this for their individual school, but it would be tailored for
134that school. I that I'm sure again you all are going to figure this all out in the best possible way, but I do wonder whether you lose something by not uh having the superintendants be responsible for uh hurting cats on the super on the principal. So by having the PR, you know, having the principles submit to their superintendent who then submits the package to you. That that's how it'll be done. Sorry, I should be clear. Everything runs through the division superintendent. The department will not you don't have to inter you don't want to interact with 1700 principles. You want to interact with 130 division superintendent. The superintendent will certify the overall results but they will ensure that the principles have completed it. Yes, ma'am. And then I do think that that's going to be helpful
135to the school building itself because had the building principal with the building principal not directly involved at this current time, I do see that there's that ability for sort of things to be lost in translation between the direction that the division uh superintendent maybe wants the school to go in or the principal sees on the ground every day in his or her building. So, I think this is going to provide a better line of communication to perhaps inform the superintendent and then the department of education more thoroughly as to what each school is actually doing obviously by way finally of this the division superintendent but still having more voice from the principal as it's been written um you know for a while. I think if we really focus on what's been there and exercise that
136to the fullest um extent, it's going to be I think a different story in terms of how we're telling the story of of the successes of the schools. And I I Mark, I have one final item, but maybe it goes to a later you're going to talk about the accountability framework in the third presentation. Okay, great. I'll save my last question for that. Yes. And I will say to that um we've been talking through we're going to work with our stakeholder groups around this. You know currently this is collected at the end of the school year but when you look at these measures and you look at a feedback loop is important that this be timely and in the school safety and facilities section there are items specific to when it occurred during the school
137year. One of them actually in the regulation states it's supposed to happen in the first week of the school year. So to do that at the end of the school year and then say well I didn't do that. I'm now out of compliance. My school is a condition accredited. So, what we're going to be doing is with this fall and this training is setting up, you know, data collection throughout the school year. And so, that way we're collecting at a time, giving feedback at a time, and then that way principles, divisions aren't burdened to say, "Hey, it's the end of a school year with all the other data collection you're doing and trying to close out a school year. Send all this information to us. But we also want to draw attention to specific things
138in the regulations that state by middle of the year you've done this, by beginning of the year, you've done this." And so that way again there's a timely feedback process to say well you know if you miss that benchmark you know you want to address it now versus well now the school year's over and I I didn't know I was supposed to do that. So we want to get we will be getting the information out this summer into the fall but specific things that have time that are timesensitive. Uh we want to draw attention to those as well. Other questions or comments here before Mark moves to the next section? Okay, thank you. And as as stated earlier, we'll be back each month, Melissa and I. And we'll be providing updates on Virginia's uh school
139accreditation system. So, thank you for uh accepting for first review the the report there. I'm going to move now to school quality profiles and this will go to some of the uh comments from U board member Rotherham. And so now I'm on slide 24 and I want to provide for you the current school quality profile. So these and I'm very very proud of this. Um the school quality profile satisfies both state and federal requirements in reporting and under the every student succeeds act they have quite the manual of things that each state has to provide and and what I want to share with you is our state report card has been evaluated uh by USCD. This was maybe about a year ago and uh we received a nice letter of commendation that we are in
140full compliance. And so it's just something I share with you. I have colleagues in other states who are uh struggling with their report cards to get full compliance. And so, uh, it's just something we're proud of in Virginia that we are satisfying all the federal requirements and we have state requirements that we're doing there as well. Uh, so the school quality profiles were developed by the state board of education in response to the 2015 Virginia General Assembly. Uh, directed the board to redesign online reports for schools and school divisions to more effectively communicate to parents and the public about the status and achievements of Virginia's public schools. uh school quality profiles are available for all schools, school divisions, and for the state. And what I'll say to you here is because it is open access,
141we at the department use this in numerous trainings, reports, of course, our school quality office, it's it's just a nice tool that whatever audience we're talking to, uh everybody has access to it. We can pull it up and share a screen and use it. And so moving forward, which I'll talk about today, that that guiding principle is something uh with stakeholder input, that transparency piece we we definitely want to capitalize on. I do want to share with you that our current school quality profile is built on what's called a WordPress platform. Again, it was designed in 2015 and that is no longer supported by the Virginia Information Technology Agency or we refer to them as VA. In addition, uh necessary enhancements are prohibited uh because the platform would no longer meet established security standards. So,
142we can only make so many changes and if we make too many changes, then there's security protocols that uh there are concerns around that and so we're limited is the bottom line. Um and then the existing features, they no longer satisfy the department's expectations for a modern business intelligence tool. And so again things that you might see on other websites or applications and could we do this again with the WordPress WordPress platform we're just we're limited and then like I said the security uh reasons as well in Vita. So uh for those reasons you'll hear me talk later uh we're looking to move into a new website um and and that's uh the strong rationale for why that needs to be done. I do want to walk you through the Virginia school quality profile because
143for this currently and then for uh the upcoming year the information will be flowing through there. And so now on this slide you see uh the you know splash page the launch page of Virginia school quality profile. You have there at the bottom state reports uh they can browse by division or browse by school. And so and you can enter you know addresses you can enter uh if you there's a drop down there you can actually if you're house of delegates member or state senator you can actually look in certain areas as well and look at uh schools in your your area. Madam President, may I just add, Mark, for anybody who's trying to play along and look at new newer members may not know, but it's a little tricky to find the school quality
144profiles from the DOE website. But if you just search Virginia school quality profile on Google or whatever search you're using, it will come up. It's school quality profile.gov, I think, something like that. So on the next slide here, I'm on 26. You'll see I'm going to walk you through each of we call them tabs or pages. Um and so you'll see I'm starting with the first one. Um this is our state report. Again, required under federal law that each state does this and has certain information. And so the first one you have here uh is assessments. Uh in Virginia, we refer to them as the annual pass rates. Uh under the federal law, student achievement results. Um this is the report we put out in August. Uh it's a calculation of of the students who
145took the test. Did they pass or fail? It's the first one. You know, the media is going to report, schools are going to report, your local school boards, and that is available. Again, we normally do that in August. Um, and so that that's the information you're seeing on that. You've got previous years, a three-year trend here. You can choose which year uh test, reading, math, science. You can and then update the chart. The other piece I want to draw your attention to is you can select student groups. Um, we have specific student groups, uh, based on the population of Virginia that we report for federal requirements. And so you could select on those and see how students groups are doing. Uh, and then you have, uh, we call them racial, ethnic groups or programmatic groups,
146students with disabilities, economic disadvantage, and English learners. Again, required under federal law. So you can see their performance. At the bottom of this uh, screen here, you see the show data. And by clicking on that I'm taking you to the next slide where I provide for you now a table um and you can see from the table again three years trend it breaks down the data did students score advanced proficient do they pass do they fail um and so again you see the student groups even more student groups are provided there um and you've got some detailed information there at the bottom but as you're navigating through the website and clicking on some of these features you know you can download things um you can get explanations um And again, you have access to more
147data. So that was our first tab. On slide 28, we go to our next tab, and that's enrollment. And enrollment here has two years of data. And you're looking, again, this is statewide data. You can start to see across the state or division or school. Again, as you drill down uh the enrollment, you know, how many students were enrolled this year versus last year. And you can you can see the breakdown by grade levels. The next uh tab or screen is going to be college career readiness. This is going to give you uh data uh specific quite most of specific here uh some for Virginia how we calculate graduation rates and the diploma types and then as you move down you're going to have some advanced programs in Virginia there'll be information there on that
148page um IB AP things like that postsecary enrollment is on this page along along with uh CTE how are students completing credentials which credentials and then the last part of that is going to be ASVAB uh how many students took ASVAB and were they successful? So that current college and career readiness holds that information, Madam President. So Mark, just so I'm clear on that college and career readiness indicator tab, what we have now is the old college career readiness metric, but as of sometime soon, it will be the new college career readiness metric. So I love this. So what you're seeing here and that's why I'm going with the words on the screen. We're going to change some of the language to match because the framework we call it readiness here was called college and
149career readiness. And so we are going to change some of the language. Some of these reports are required for federal like the table on CT is required for federal. And so that'll stay on that page. You're not seeing it on this slide. That'll stay on that that page. Um but the framework with its readiness will in include all the three E and all these other components as well. But in other words, is there going to be so you haven't yet told us how the the new accountability framework and the etc is going to fold into this site. So I hear you. You're getting to that. But the college and career readiness tab even despite the limitations of WordPress that's going to change to a 3E readiness tab. No, no, that's going to fall and you're
150you're a couple slides ahead of me. You're good. that's going to fall to the new framework page that would have three and all that information. So, it just means that board I mean, we'll talk we'll talk about this more later, but you all are going to have your work cut out for you because to Andy's point until you get these two systems fully integrated, the public's going to see two different readiness metrics on the website. So that is why to your point that we're going to rename this and again we're going to satisfy some of the federal requirements but to your point too we're going to align and combine as much as we can. Um and so for that very reason as you're describing for clear consistent messaging and I think the point here is
151is that it's not that the current way the the WordPress is not going to be accepting of sort of the innovative needs of the new information that needs to be expressed on the website if I'm understanding and so with this this migration that I'm going to get to it's definitely for this uh this year is we want to ensure we're meeting federal requires irements and as we can combine and align things we will we don't want redundancy we're not going to put them in both places if we don't have to but we're going to make sure as we migrate that information is cohesive especially with the framework in 3 it'll be reported if federal requires it to be a little more you know detailed we can put that there as well but for now we
152want to make sure we include the information where it is to satisfy the requirements the next slide here is on finance uh again I've given you you know screenshots here of the state finance and it has the expenditures for instruction. You get federal, you get state, you get local, you get a three-year uh you can look here over three years. Um you also have here I I highlighted for you again where you can choose. So this is great for the public. You know what data source is this coming from? How is this information being provided? And so you can choose the hide or show explanation. And so for this one, it's showing you by state the for the school year 2324 per pupil spending. Um and so you again you can look at that state
153level, division level or school level and really drill down um on the financial side. Our next page gives you learning climate currently. It has our chronic absenteeism which is also reported in another place kind of to your comments board member Holton around some of this information and where information lives. On this page you'll also find school safety uh suspension expulsion rates uh free reduced meals. you'll find that on this this page. And then at the bottom, we also have civil rights data. Um so a number of things a number of information again state federal requirements um around climate um school environment that you'll find on this page. The next page gives you teacher quality. Uh you'll see there at the top student teacher ratios. Um we have uh data on the experience of teachers or
154the experience inexperience basically how many years they've been in the profession. uh if they're licensed or provisionally licensed. It's both for teachers and administrators. Um and we talk about this both in high poverty, low poverty schools in all schools. Um and really examining uh especially under title one, the requirements here for the public to have very transparent information if their schools are title one um the level of expertise of those teachers in the building. So this again is a state report of that information, but you can see both at the division and school and you can see comparisons, you know, my school versus another school. um the staffing experience, the administrative experience and then degrees also on that page. Uh what what types of degrees do the teachers or the administrators have? On our next
155page, we have the u the ESSA page. U this is federal reporting and again includes our long-term goals and interim measures of progress. And then we have two more tabs for you. uh school readiness which we're talking about again renaming again around that readiness word. Uh this currently has a preschool experience which we're talking about that and currently has our PALS data again with Val we're talking about revamping this and what the data looks like. So this is a good time with some of these other programs to really reconsider and have the board weigh in on how you want data to be visualized. And then our final tab is on what's called uh MOP or multi-dision online provider program. uh the Virginia code of Virginia allows school divisions to partner uh with online providers. They're
156still responsible, school divisions still responsible for the instruction of those students. And so this is showing the results if school divisions participate with with a multi-online division provider. And so you can see at the state level if the division participates uh how are the students performing on assessments and so that's what that information is. The next page I have for you here on slide 36 is just a sample of the school information. And so what you'll see, and board member Rotherham uh talked about earlier, you'll see now if if the public or anyone goes to the page, the accreditation page or tab currently says coming fall 2025, a new look for school accreditation. So we've already started shifting on the school accreditation page that the previous information that was there with the test results uh
157has been uh removed. And so we're going to start moving to put the 11 items I described to you to really start helping the public see what does accreditation look like in Virginia. Now I want as I just said that you might think well um we want access to that information. And so I'll still show you where that all is available. We didn't we didn't you know remove it completely. It's still available to the public. Um and so on slide 37 you see u with the the new design a new tab will be added that will say school performance and support framework. It'll be the first tab. This tab will take you to a new website. And why are we going to a new website is because again this this current platform the WordPress platform
158has reached its shelf life. And so that is where we'll start moving information uh over the 25 26 year to start moving everything to the new website. But we're going to begin with the framework. Um and so that's where you'll see this information and to board member Holton's comments earlier, we'll start moving things over. Um beginning with the framework first. Now as I shared uh slides 38 uh discuss where anyone can go find the information. So while we've removed the data from the accreditation tab it is still available um still on the school quality profile. You can go to the top and download data and you can pull the information by state division or school. You can download up to three years. Another way you can still find it is on the DOE website. All
159school accreditation reports going back since 2014. You can download an Excel spreadsheet for divisions, schools. Um, so all that information is there if someone wants to go back and look at the data. So I want to summarize for you on slide 40 what's in development. We have met multiple times with data quality campaign. Uh, I believe they sent you a letter to talk about some of the work and some of their recommendations. Uh, we've been consulting with them about looking at states and best practices and design. Um, you know, one of their themes was to make information easy to find, easy to use, and easy to understand. And really what a great opportunity for Virginia to redesign its report card and think about that messaging. You know, they shared in 2017 all states, you know,
160were doing this under ESSA and now we're choosing to do this which is different. We get to tell our story versus being required to do it. Uh we've been working with Learning Heroes to capture the best methods to reach our audience, our community members and parents in that user friendly language. and we've already been engaging and will continue to engage with stakeholder groups in this process including you. Uh we'll come back each month with updates and get your response and reactions um on the development. Some other immediate next steps. Uh you've already seen the accreditation page has already been updated to start shifting some language. Uh we continue to review some items and meet with potential vendors. Um, we're talking about again the new website design to come out this fall and then start moving
161to the website over the coming months. And then again, as I shared, we'll continue to come back to the board and meet with different stakeholder groups uh to get your reaction. And this would conclude part two of the presentation questions. Mr. Rotherham. Thank you, Mark. There's a lot here to like. I'm excited about the direction you all are going. Um uh just a couple of things I think like and and this will like be a macro for my theme. I think people need context and comparison points. And so there's just a number of places where we provide data. But so for example, I'm looking at a high school I'm familiar with and there's 113 behaviors that impede academic progress. Like 113, oh my gosh, that sounds like a lot. But like how does that compare?
162That needs to I think be put in context with with district state averages. Um, so people have some kind of reference point because 113 that could be an awful lot. That could actually be like below what you what you see. And you can see that sort of for all the different kinds of things. Um, likewise um we have no way to compare. So we we show the different rates by different subgroups. So you know Hispanic students, black students, but there's no way to sort of compare that with overall averages. And I think we want to make sure the data tool just to give give decontextualize data. But we I you know if you're a power user and you know what you're looking for but if you're just someone who's trying to figure out what's going
163on and so forth. So I would just urge us to like for each of these I like that we have a definition of proficiency where it says you can find you know more information but can we um uh as we go through this work with the process make sure that's linked to and is very like what does that actually mean in again in layman's terms like and there's things where you'll look and no data will come up and it's because the end size is too small and we say value too small but again like if you're a power user you're going to be oh okay value I get it but if you're someone who's just trying to figure out you can be like wait why is there why why is this pie chart are not
164changing for me. So, I just want to make sure we're being like as user friendly um as possible. So, that's that's my first point. I think there's like just a a number of places where we have uh some room to ceiling there where there is even just contextual data just within the state just to com just to compare it to and help people get a frame of reference. And then um uh my second comment is simply Miss Holton's point like you shouldn't have to use Google to sort of like I wor I worry a great deal that these report cards are like the Iranian nuclear program. and they're interesting, important, and deeply buried. Um, and we should figure out, we shouldn't have to go like knowing that you can go through Google is like a
165that's like a workaround. Um, so what can we do because I'm worried I've asked over the years for usage data. I've never gotten it and I'm very concerned about like we should all this work we want to make sure it's actually being used. Um, and so to figure out how can we what can we do and I think working with learning heroes is great. Is there stuff we can be pushing out? Like all of that, but to make sure that we're not building all this just for ourselves. Excellent. But again, thank you. I I like the direction it's going and I really I applaud the uh the work that you all um are doing. Thank you. Uh I just want to say thank you. I know Dr. Northern asked for the information on slide 40
166in our last meeting, so thank you for making sure to integrate that here as well. Are there any other questions or comments, Miss Holton? Uh, yes. Thank you, Mark, and thank you, uh, Superintendent Gullixson. I know you're um hard engaged on this work, too, and how important it is. Uh, I I will say I'm disappointed, as I know we all are, that we're at the stage we are at on this work now. We, this is really where we should have been a year ago once we adopted the accountability framework. You know, I you know, I have my disagreements over pieces of it, but the whole point of an account framework is transparency, and we're a year behind at least on on turning what we did a year ago into information that's usable to the public
167in in any fashion. And I will just tell you that when we adopted the this is one of these when not the last time we did this things I say but it is the case that the last time we did this back in 2015 2016 2017 the department was engaged over a matter of years. The board was engaged over a matter of many many months. Diane Atkinson in a very bipartisan way led a committee where we wrestled over um exactly what we wanted portrayed and how highlighted on the school quality profile. We we did a lot of work to get to the point where we had this system which while we now all know know that there's a lot of flaws and a lot of things we want to improve upon it. It was our
168first public accountability system in Virginia and it has served us well over many years. So, but I will say we we the board was intimately involved with it, I guess, is my bottom line. And I hope this board uh you all going forward remain intimately involved and take advantage of the great work the department is doing with stakeholders, but you this is really your responsibility and uh to make sure that it meets your needs. It's going to be a mess for a while uh because the new system won't be integrated into the old system. Um and um I the one thing I would say on that is even though the old system is um has all its imperfections and is hard to find. I do think it is used a lot by um it may
169not be used by the public very much but I know it's used by researchers, academics. I send students to it, graduate students to it all the time, colleagues um in the university um ed policy setting. We use this regularly and I think school divisions use it regularly. you know, how's my school doing on um some subgroup on reading compared to the division compared to the state, etc., etc. Um and so all that to say, as you work to transition to the new system, please don't throw out the old system until you can replace it. So even though for instance on readiness, it will be very confusing to have an old readiness metric and a new readiness metric. I just think don't lose the value that's here, the finance information, the teacher quality information, all of
170that. Um um you know, until that can be captured in the new system. Um I really and I do understand that that's Mark Mark your plan is to keep the old system up as much and intact as much as possible and it does you know to a point we've discussed before. For instance, the test scores are all there. And you know, folks who've worried before, oh well, we're we're we're losing we're not communicating about actual test scores because we're combining proficiency with growth. No, we don't do that here. The these are proficiency rates that are are are produced. And so, we have been transparent with the public. Don't lose any of that as you migrate um to the new system, even though the result even though that will mean that it's going to be a
171mess for a year or so. All that's just by way of comment, not question. Thank you. Yeah, I think um it's I think it's clear that communication is critical um and and that's uh a commitment that staff and the board has made and will continue to make moving forward. um to make sure that the field is well aware of what is there and what is coming and what is side by side uh at different times. So um that's that's the most critical factor here and and the board has I mean we have done some work on it back when we were adopting the framework we did give some you know we talked about having a placemat style you know growth readiness etc um um and um talked even there were suggestions that I I don't
172know that we adopted them as a group but the Alan Sebert I remember raising that we could have some green yellow reds or some arrow actions. But anyway, all that how you portray the new framework on that tab in the new system that those are board calls. Those are board decisions that the board's had some input in but you all should be making going forward. Yep. And so we will be back for those conversations uh to the board and it'll be ongoing work um as far as you know moving from one website to another website with that information and we're excited about that. So for the final presentation, we're moving now from 2425 some of the changes through the summer into the fall into next year. And so we want to share in this final
173presentation um are the next steps on the school performance and support framework. And so I'm on slide 42 of the presentation. Um and so I'm going to share with you today 10 items um and then I'll give you context to all 10 of these items that when we talk about again our cohesive Can I jump in here? Yes, ma'am. Um, I just want to see before we move to the final presentation that Mark is giving us, would you all prefer to take a break now for lunch or get through this and then take a break for lunch? Keep going. Okay, we'll we'll we'll go get through this one and then take take lunch. Thank you. Oh, no, you're fine. Um, and so on slide 43, you see the 10 items there. And so I want
174to give you context to those and sort of provide for you a road mapap of where we're going. Um, the intention of this is obviously we're at the June board meeting. We'll be back in July, August, and September. Um, and so we're looking for probably a first review in August, final review in September. We want complete transparency with the public and give them the entire summer to comment on this. Um, we've already started stakeholder engagement. We'll have public comment coming uh online here at the end of June and so we'll be providing that to the board and ongoing updates um just as you know things are considered and then like I said uh looking for probably first review in August final review at the end of September. Uh this would be through our state plan
175and that's why we're calling it amendment nine to our state plan with our cohesive accountability system. And so I'm going to walk through all 10 items for you. Some of these are more minor uh but do think it's important to draw it to your attention in the public. Uh the first one is around some calculation methodology. Um currently the mastery index has four well we have assessments that have four performance levels and some that have three. And so what I'll bring back to the board is the considering of if an assessment only has three performance levels and I'm referring to end of course assessments and the Virginia alternate assessment program VAP test that we consider the mastery index for those assessments. So currently again no decisions today but currently it's a a 0.25 a 75
176a one point 1.25 and so what we'll talk about is uh still doing the 1.25 the one point uh but looking at perhaps a 0.5 for assessments with three performance levels. Secondly our participation rate. This is required under federal. It's very important in the calculations. Uh we have a new ins size a student group size of 15 which greatly impacts participation rate. And so what we're going to bring back to you is considering a higher ins size only for participation rate. Um again that'll be a separate presentation. I'll go in detail and show you what that means. It basically reduces the burden on schools. Um it doesn't have them do as much reporting but it still keeps the 15 um for student group size but it allows that participation rate uh to be higher. Um
177and so we've talked with US ed and some other states that have done that to truly help sort of you know looking at the numbers and the calculations. On the next slide here uh you see the conversation around growth. Uh this summer we'll be exploring with some stakeholder groups looking at how Virginia calculates growth. Uh currently we're using a system that's value added and so we'll be looking at that and exploring sort of the value added process. Previously, Virginia's used what it called progress tables or the literature refers to as value tables. We'll look at that as well and student growth percentiles. So, we're going to talk about those different growth models and then for the upcoming school year, uh which best fits Virginia's needs for our elementary middle school calculations um as they're used
178for both reading and math. And so, we'll discuss that this summer as well. Slide 46, you see advanced coursework. So when the board adopted the framework, mathematics was included for advanced coursework at the middle school level. I want to be very clear here that that will continue. Uh but this is a separate advanced coursework would be a separate denominator, a separate calculation. And this would be looking at both earth science uh the EOC and of course earth science at the middle school level and world geography. Uh and I'll bring you specifics on different ways to do this. Uh the thinking right now and again the board will certainly weigh on on this is this would not be and I want to be very clear this would not be for 2526. So I do want to
179alleviate any concerns around that. We definitely would want to give a minimum of a year uh time for divisions to implement this and consider the changes that are needed for this. So certainly not for 2526 for that one. Our next item I want to share with you uh we received a letter um from six organizations and associations to include the American Historical Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, Virginia Social Studies Association, Virginia Council for the Social Studies, I Civics and Civics Now Coalition, and Virginia Civics. And in this letter, they describe the need to bring a history a history indicator, history measurement into our accountability system. And so what we'll ask the board is to consider for elementary the Virginia studies assessment, for middle school the civics and economics and in high school
180the Virginia US history assessment. Um and we can talk through that as well, but want to highlight that letter that went to the board um and those associations that are uh calling on Virginia to consider this. On the next slide, you see 3E readiness framework uh the board adopted in May and bringing high quality work-based learning. I'm very excited that my colleagues from CTE will be back here in July with more guidance on that. We heard some public comments this morning around that. What we're going to ask the board is to have conversation around some of the other items. When the board adopted in August uh 2024, it noted it wanted to return and discuss more on enlistment. And so we'll have conversation uh this summer around the enlistment criteria. The next slide is not
181so much an accountability but would go into our state plan and it's around English language proficiency. We have students who are duly identified both as special needs and English learners. And so we have an assessment that they take called alternate access. And so we need to discuss a screener uh for that assessment and as well as an exit criteria. So not in our accountability system. It could one day by looking at progress uh but it's something that it's new uh you know from the company through WEDA uh for this assessment and so we need to have some conversation and bring that into this amendment as well. Continuing with uh English learners and specifically to recently arrive um now on slide 50 here uh Virginia currently uses exception A uh in the uh under the Every
182Student Succeeds Act and what we're going to ask the board to consider and have conversation is moving to exception B. And so to very simply what this means is currently in Virginia um in 26 states use exception A. We are in the majority of states that use exception A. Um 24 states use exception B or some sort of hybrid. But in exception A, in the first year that 12 months, you can talk about three semesters, a student uh is exempt from reading. They take science and math and those results are excluded. That's what we're doing currently. Exception B says this. In their first year as a recently arrived English learner, they take all the assessments, reading, math, and science. In year two, they're only measured for growth. And so you look at you need year
183one as a baseline. Year two is used for growth. So in our framework they would not be in mastery but they would be in growth and then in year three the students we measured on proficiency and so you see the shift there that extra year is added and you're only looking at growth and so we'll bring that to the board. Uh we've got some public engagement already set up on this topic uh to hear from you know different stakeholder groups on this. And now we move down to slide 52. Um you saw the chart there that kind of explains that on 51. And then on 52, alternative accountability. Previously, Virginia had, and you see the code cited there, we had alternative accreditation plans with our cohesive system. We do with baseline data from this year
184want to explore for schools that are, you know, meet the special purpose school criteria and the code having an alternative accountability. Um, and so we would discuss sort of any modifications that could be made to the framework that would satis satisfy federal law. Um, so the this our schools that meet this definition, you know, how should they be measured? Um, and so we've already met with some groups on this and had some great brainstorming sessions will continue throughout the summer and then bring a proposal to the board through conversation. Um, and this would be included in our plan as well. And that is something they're very eager that that would be for the 2526 school year. And then finally, uh, we have for you two other items. One is when the board adopted in August
1852024, we noted in our state plan that we would bring back to you information on an exit criteria for federal identification. You you need baseline data to do that. And so we're going to revisit that and look at how did our schools do this year with the framework and then what should the exit criteria be for our CSI schools, ATSI schools. Um and so we'll have conversation and look at that data. And then our final number 10 is with after standard settings complete uh the board has adopted the new proficiency uh scores then we'll need to discuss new long-term goals and our measures of progress in both reading mathematics. Um these are required in reading and math uh federal graduation English learner progress but certainly want to update for reading and math given the changes
186to the assessment and our standard setting. Um, and so that's a conversation we can have, you know, August, September, but when we have this amendment open, it's nice to do it all as one one package. And so, finally, my last slide for you, our next steps, public comments going to begin at the end of June. Uh, we've been meeting already with associations and we've got conferences lined up to talk through these items. We want the public to weigh in throughout the summer. Again, we're anticipating first review in August, final and September. Uh we want schools to start this year and know the targets to know the plans to have complete transparency. Um but we want to also you know it's also summer and people traveling and so we wanted to start today to give you
187the overview and then next uh in July we'll bring some of these before you some in August and then you know bring the full package to you uh through through other conversations. And that concludes my presentation three of three comments. May May I Um, last month I had a question on the 3E readiness and employment and within a week I think your I imagine your office with the request of the superintendent prepared a really nice report um showing how those different options will work for students with disabilities. So I just wanted to commend you for that and acknowledge that communication that took place. So um and it really did kind of confirm I think the advice we were hearing from your offices. So thank you. You're welcome. And I will note when we talk about
1883E, we have another stakeholder group that's already met continue to meet. We will discuss special needs students and uh programs for students that we can adapt sort of the criteria for them. We'll bring that data back as well to you. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Other questions or comments here? Miss Holton. Uh Mark, can you go back to slide I think it's 45, the growth indicator. Yes, ma'am. So what we've used what I think what we approved previously was the Vivas growth indicator and that is what's going to be used to calculate growth under the new framework for the 2425 school year. Correct. That's correct. So to be very clear for 2425 the year that is just concluding we will be using Vivos to calculate those results. And now there's a proposal to use something
189different from Vivas. And is that because there's a funding question for Vivas? So what we thought we were using for growth is gone. No longer an option. Maybe we could still use value added and we will explore that and we've been looking at other vendors. We've been talking about that value added model. Um we've also been asked by stakeholder groups to reconsider the use that's been done before with the progress tables. the progress tables would have to be revised with the new assessments and new uh just how that those are calculated and then Virginia could also explore student growth percentiles. So I'll just flag this to my colleagues because you all will be wrestling with this over the course of the summer but or beyond but the the student growth percentiles and the value tables
190have both been methods we've tried before with growth in Virginia and we found them to be deficient. That's why we had moved to Vivas. Uh, Vivas has its own problems and that may be why the funding is no longer there for Vivas. But I I don't I I'm I'm frustrated. For all my time on the board, we've been talking about how to measure growth well. And I know there are other states that do this, and I don't understand yet why we can't do it right or do it well. Um, and maybe our new testing contract, which hopefully will be in place over the next couple of years, will give you all better uh metrics for growth. But for the time being, you're going to have a big hole in your uh accountability framework because what
191we thought we were using for growth is no more. Um, so I I just that's just a flag. Good luck. I don't know the answer but it's a a big problem. U um um the uh the other matter I wanted to ask about was it just to understand the um oh on slide 46. Um uh the adding world geography to the advanced court work coursework metric at the middle school level. We did just last night get uh a letter from the social studies coordinators pointing out that the majority I think of schools do not offer world geography in middle school. Um and have chosen not to because of the sequencing of when you do US history 1 when you do I mean some don't offer world geography at all. It's not a required course. So,
192but to get the sequencing of courses in from fourth grade on up in the social studies and history curriculum, world geography is not something that our schools are required to offer in middle school and many don't, maybe a majority don't. So I just commend for you you know well maybe Mark the way to ask that the question is what's your answer to the concern that we've heard from the social studies coordinators about including world geography as a advanced coursework metric given that many and perhaps most schools don't offer it by choice. So a couple items to that one this is why we definitely are saying it's not for 2526 to give time for it. one this advanced coursework um you know there will be an incentive uh for it but is not intended for all
193students. Um we've had some feedback to actually definitely use world geography over for say world history. Um when we've met with stakeholder groups and talked about world history they found that world history one the rigor of it with the new standards certainly needed to stay at the high school level but that world geography was a better fit for middle school um with the EOC. We've heard from some divisions who were offering world geography, but were not giving the EOCC assessment uh just because it wasn't being used in the calculations. Um so we've received more positive feedback to include this. Um but we'll continue to engage with stakeholders um and just talk through the limitations you're describing. And was this the point that the superintendent association's feedback in the public comment today was that don't make
194any changes right away. let us assess the um outcome of the first year before we make any changes. Is this what they were speaking to? I believe the comments this morning did speak to this and another one of the proposals. Yes, the the history civics one as well. uh uh again if I just commend you to that letter from the social studies coordinators but they explain it's not simply a matter of uh it's not like the algebra one where we can all agree that it's great to accelerate kids into algebra 1 and to incentivize kids into algebra 1 at 8th grade whether you choose to do world geography at all in the sequence in Virginia or whether you choose to do it at middle school versus high school there are a lot of factors involved
195D and so you may want to think about sure and and licensing of teachers who you know it's not a simple matter of oh we're you know now we'll do world geograph okay you're going to incentivize it let's all add world geography to middle school um u the the u mo moving on to um the um page 47 including the civics and Virginia US history Virginia studies indicators I I think that we we do have a letter from Senator Van Balkenberg and others uh as you mentioned uh recommending that we think about that and I do think that that's something that I I I understand the reasons for it but I do commend the board to think carefully about whether you want to make that change now or more gradually implement it whether there is
196a need for more public input on that. There are a lot of reasons why we have and haven't included. I I I do worry that if we don't um pay attention to the civics's metrics that they get lost and so I understand the impetus behind it. But uh for instance, one of the over the years we have allowed and many school divisions have opted to do locally uh verified assessments what we call local alternative assessments um at the high school level in particular for civics. It's the one place where we can we actually allow um a robust projectbased learning approach and and many school divisions have really taken and run with that. So if you do and and they've developed with the department robust metrics around how we do how we uh assess those locally
197verified assessments. It's not just a free-for-all. So if you include the Virginia andor US history in high school in the um um in the indicators, you would I I would encourage you to use the local alternative assessment as an um as well as the the testing. this the divisions that use the traditional testing method. Don't don't discourage that project-based learning by requiring everybody to pass the test. Um that there was a lot of thought put into what why why we don't require everybody to do testing um in high school on on US history. Um, and I think my last item is uh I I didn't you didn't speak to it specifically, but it went in the framework. You and I talked last month, the department, we talked last month about the CSI stat school status
198and the guidelines and am I right you all have made a change? Yeah, that there will be a new version of our techno document going out should be go going out this week and that particular business rule referring to the CSI schools uh being reduced uh to a certain performance category has been removed. So we are no it is no longer the case that CSI schools will automatically be relegated to the bottom category in the performance framework. That was that's been that's that language is being removed from the guidelines. Yes, ma'am. Version two has that removed. Thank you. Um, I will bring the board's attention just from comments that you made, Miss Holton. Um, because if you remember, Dr. Sbert and I worked tirelessly on um uh the history standards and in um if you
199go look on page nine on the 2023 history standards, we do have very clearly a course progression outline that specifically outlines world geography in 8th grade. Um, and so I would just make sure that for the public's um, knowledge just to refer back to that document. Um, that was approved by the board obviously in 2023. Um, and uh, a lot of our school divisions, I I think what we probably want to go back and look for is some data around the number of school divisions that are offering world geography versus those that aren't because I would venture to say um, that there may not have been enough understanding around how many school divisions are and are not. Um, I'm not sure that that letter, although I did skim it quickly before this meeting, I'm not
200sure that that letter outlined that specific data around that. Um, I think we would be surprised to see the number of school divisions that are actually um providing that course. I I know that even back in the early 2010s when I was um still in the classroom, we were we were providing that course in a rural school division in in in Virginia. So um you know, given the fact that it's now 2025, I would be surprised if more school divisions than aren't are offering that course. uh particularly post adoption of the 2023 history standards. Um so that's just one thing in particular that I would raise the flag again for school divisions to please be in review of of that course progression outline um and moving into those staffing opportunities in the future. If I
201may, just in response in the letter from the consortium that the consortium points out that while this that progression was in the standards and I remember this because it was it was um we we got a lot of uh feedback uh uh negative feedback towards that progression from the field and we added in language to the standards that we adopted that they quote in their letter. Historically, Virginia has offered flexibility around the grades at which some of these courses are taught. In this con configuration, the board's recommended grade level sequence. School divisions are strongly encouraged to adopt this sequence, but it is not required. And then they do attach I have not read it in detail, but they do uh the the consortium attaches their summary of what's going on in the divisions. And I
202have just skimmed it, but it looks like it is a minority of schools that offer world geography at the eighth grade level. Now, that's just their compilation. And so the department I would ask the department to please I think that would be useful for you all to ask the department and and they've got some gaps in it. They've got some divisions they haven't uh got data on. So perhaps the department can update andor uh verify andor correct do a corrected version of that for your consideration. Yep. Thank you. We will do that. Thank you, Madam President. Mr. Rotherham. Thank you, Madam President. Um I have two questions um that actually are questions and then a comment. Um uh so one I just want to rec uh we we have a plan to use growth in
203the fall. Yes. Okay. Absolutely. So that's not we we have the problems and I I think Miss Holton did a good job of laying them out and I think a lot of people's frustration with how growth has been approached here but um but it is not in question that we're able to do it. That's what I want to be clear on. It's just the methodology, right? Okay. And so yeah, like I said, we we've done now vivas the value added. We've done the progress tables. Um we can look at student growth percentiles. There's pros and cons to all of them. So we'll ask the board to weigh on for 2526. Growth is still in the framework and we can do it next year as well. Absolutely. Okay. So there Okay. Okay, we can do it
204next year, too. Okay, that's why I want to make sure because Okay. Um, second, I've gotten some questions. I just want to clarify on the eighth grade courses, the denominator for accountability would be students who take the course, not your entire population of eighth graders. Is that correct? For the uh the earth science and the geography. Yeah. So, you're looking at absolutely this I love the details. So, what the board will need to discuss is obviously the year of implementation, but then also with that denominator, math, I want to be very clear, math is for ready students. We look at students who scored advanced on the seventh grade math test. When we talk about earth science and world geography or whatever history course the board adopts, you would then want to talk about um if
205what we're looking at right now is a piece is performance, the students and how they scored. And we do have our calculations right now. There's a we calling it access. How many students have access to those courses, but the board would need to talk about that as far as the denominator. Is it just based on performance, the number of students who took the course and their proficiency on that assessment or would the board also want to adapt this this uh so out of 10 10 points maybe 2.5 or 1.5 to say how many students have access to those courses which incentivizes the schools to offer them. So those are very important details in this that the board would need to discuss as far as how they do it. But that way you're you're looking overall,
206but the majority of it is based on if the students are taking the course, you know, the parents think they're ready, the school thinks they're ready using local criteria. Are they successful in the course and taking the uh EOCC test? Okay, that is the majority of the denominator, but we'll definitely talk through those specifics. All right, thank you. My comment actually kind of ties to that like so I think uh Senator Van Walenberg's letter is excellent. I think he it it proposes a uh something that I hope uh uh the board will consider. And in that spirit like I hear the concern about um world geography um uh and I hear the these but I think like in general it behooves us as much as possible. I I believe, so I'm editorializing here just as
207one board member, kids can do so much more than we often expect of them. And it behooves us to be pushing advanced classes, access to advanced classes down as much as we responsibly can. Um, and that's particularly if we want kids to have more opportunities in high school around pathways and do more exploration, we're really going to have to pay attention to this is a, you know, overtime question that core content you want to make sure kids are getting. And I think we, you know, middle school has has has long been a complicated area um in the system. And I think we it behooves us to pay attention anything we can do even in signaling through our accountability system our expectations that for for rigor. This reminds me very much that we talked about in
208the um in the English standards. We wanted to as much as we could signal our expectations for rigor um in English instruction. We want to do the same thing. Uh we want to do the same thing here to raise the bar. Miss Holton, Mark, one other question on the world geography. Is it actually considered an advanced course? Because I actually thought that the our most advanced students, the advanced diploma students, typically aren't taking world geography ever. They take world history 1 in nth grade and world history 2 in in 10th grade. And world geography, I frankly always thought, was kind of the easier course in lie of those two. And that may be totally my ignorance. So is world geography actually an advanced course that we want to be incentivizing? And I guess it's two
209separate questions. Is it actually an advanced course? And do we want to be incentivizing? Why do we want to be incentivizing its taking in in um um in eighth grade? So the conversations we've had is that world geography has an end of course a high school test attached to it. It be taken in middle school and so that would make it advanced. Um, again, so we're using it because there's a test for it. We're using it. It is a high school course though and so it could be given at the middle school and I will say with the test it allows it as far as accountability and the metrics and the performance to be there. Um, again the board absolutely can have conversation around world history. Um, we did have some feedback again some pros
210and cons around world history, the rigor of the standards, the new standards and sort of should that be considered for at the middle school. the conversations we've had those thus far as divisions were actually encourages us to keep world history at the high school for those reasons and to adopt world geography but I think everything you're saying the board needs to have those conversations around it to see uh where the best fit is and maybe it's a match maybe it's both maybe it's not either or world geography or world or and world history or it's you know just that's the conversation to have I I think I'm right that many of our middle schools I may be wrong about this but actually do the the civics and economics course that's taught in eth grade is
211a huge and wonderful and important course and I think some of our divisions even divide it over two years because there's so much content in it and I would just hate to see that course downplayed in any way by this change. So um when I was teaching tell you this I taught um standard and honors and accelerated civics in seventh grade. my accelerated and honors students went into world geography in eighth grade because it was a high school credit course. And so my I would like for uh Dr. Wallace to come up and speak um to this in particular um because she's more familiar with the ability to to discuss the course progression and why it is considered an advanced course um but and not just because of the fact that it's a high school
212credit course. Um but from my understanding it is based on um somewhat of the um depth and breadth of the content that is that is looked at in the course. Everything from the actual geography to more of a world studies that prepares students to go into world history one at a more advanced level. So Dr. Wallace, I hope I didn't steal your thunder. You kind of took the words right out of my mouth, but good good good afternoon, President Cesy and members of the board. Superintendent Gullixson. Um, you know, a lot President Cesy is correct. A lot of middle schools have typically offered the world geography in middle school at for those advanced kids. So, there are schools that are offering in seventh grade the civics and economics course. Um, the new standards do allow
213that. You're correct. uh and that they do have the flexibility to keep world geography at the high school level as well. Um I think that the world geography is definitely considered an advanced course because it it has the high school level content because of the way it's not just mapping out, right? It's not just knowing where the countries are and knowing um you know the the rivers and maps and you know rivers and streams and oceans and things like that. it goes deep into other concepts that are more advanced for students to understand. And so um you know school divisions have that allowability uh to offer this uh offering it at the middle school and eighth grade that would give those students who are more advanced in those world politics to take th that course
214earlier. It actually would allow students to have a foundation greater in world world history and and history in general. Um because they're still required they're going to take their world one, world two, US government, US history in high school. And so um I mean I know I took world geography when I was in eighth grade. Thank you, Dr. Wallace. Yes. Thank you. Are there further questions or comments here? This stands between us and lunch. Okay. Anything else from the team over there? Mark, Melissa? No. No. Just thank you. And we're uh we're going to process your data requests and have those back to you. So, thank you. Okay. Thank you so much. Um thank you very much. We will move uh we'll accept this for first review and see you in July. I would like
215to just make a quick note about item K. Item K has been removed from the agenda at the request of the applicant. The department will consult with the applicant further about next steps and we will then see where that goes. Um but I would like to thank our charter school advisory committee chair uh Mich Ashton for her work. um and the rest of the charter school advisory committee for their work. Um we will continue to work on this opportunity and see um where we land. So thank you. Um that being said, if you all will look at your agenda, you'll see that we have a written report on the standard setting pro uh process progress. And then when we come back from lunch, we'll handle our legal update um and close out the business portion
216of the meeting prior to moving into um our closed session for lensure cases. Oh, okay. We could do that too. Uh so we will do that if there's no objection here. I think it's going to be it's going to be rather quick from what I understand. So, um that being said, Mr. Hansen, uh would you read our motion to convene into a closed meeting? I move that the Virginia Board of Education convene in a closed meeting for the following purposes. Consultation with legal counsel employed by or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel pursuant to section 2.2. 2-371188 of the Code of Virginia and the Legal Council to the Virginia Board of Education and staff whose presence will aid in the board's consideration of
217this matter participate in the closed meeting. Dr. Hi Dr. Hi Mr. Hans. Hi Mr. I chair. Will you read our certification to return to open session, please? We convene today in a closed meeting pursuant to a recorded vote on the motion above and in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. Section 2.2-3712 2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires that the board certify that to the best of each member's knowledge. Only public business matters lawfully exempt from open meeting requirements under this chapter and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed, or considered. Any member who believes there was a departure from these requirements shall so state prior to the vote indicating the substance of the departure that in his or her
218judgment has taken place. The statement of the departure will be recorded in the minutes. Okay. Um Dr. I Okay, we are moving into discussion of current issues. Are there any issues that need to be discussed at this time? Currently. Currently, uh, Miss Holton, I just wanted to recognize, which we didn't have time to do earlier, but that Dr. Northern has a new role, uh, helping advise the US Department of Education on IEES, and we're very grateful to your uh, service there. Thank you. Anything else? discussion of current issues. Okay, no other issues to discuss. So, we will move to election of officers. Um, as everyone knows, the current term, um, two-year term is up and we need to hold an election for officers. So, with that, uh, I will accept any motion that may be
219on the table or Miss Ashton. Madam President, may I make a motion, please? I would like to make a motion to reelect um Miss Casy as president and Miss Hansen, Mr. Hansen as vice president. I second. Do we do I second yet? Yes, please. Okay. Um as long as Mr. Hansen will accept such a uh I do a motion, I will also accept such a motion. And so at that I will ask for um any discussion here before we offici make it official. Okay. Dr. Northern Thank you both for your services. Dr. Northern I. Dr. Arian I. Mr. Hansen. It's okay to vote for myself. I guess so. Yes. Yeah, you could do that anyway. Mr. Rotherham. Miss Ashton. I Miss Holton. I chair votes I. Superintendent. Uh on behalf of the agency, we are
220very grateful for President Cesy and Vice President Hansen's willingness to serve another term. They've been incredible thought partners and guides, especially since I took over the agency in March. So, on behalf of my team, we thank you for your service. I think I speak for Mr. Hansen, when I say that we uh and myself when I say that we are certainly blessed to um be able to work not only with those of you who um help us do our work on the board uh but also to be able to have a more uh a closer relationship and maybe staff doesn't like how close that relationship has become recently, but um we do certainly appreciate the continued again like Superintendent Gullixson said thought partnership and um are just happy to move into the next phase here.
221So, thank you. Mr. Hansen, do you want to say anything or did I speak for you? Always can and always. Um I just thank you. It's just an honor to serve and just appreciate the camaraderie and relationship with the board and the leadership at the department. So, thank you. Okay. So with that um as I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting we will now make our motion to go into close session to consider lensure cases and the YouTube stream will conclude for the day. The public is of course welcome to be with us here at the library to witness the proceedings after we come out of close session but we need to conclude the live stream in order to ensure that staff can pack up our sound equipment and we can be out of
222the library before it closes today. Um after the teacher lensure cases, we will return to open session in the room where we are um currently seated to certify the closed meeting and to vote on the teacher lensure cases, but the board will not conduct any other business. Uh Mr. Hansen, would you read our motion to convene into a closed meeting? I move that the Virginia Board of Education convene in a closed meeting for the following purposes. discussion or consideration by the board of education of information relating to the denial, suspension, or revocation of teacher licenses subject to the exclusion in subdivision 11 of section 2.2-3705.3 pursuant to section 2.2-3711A40 of the code of Virginia and consultation with council regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-37. 2-3711A88
223to the Code of Virginia and that legal counsel to Virginia Board of Education staff whose presence will aid in the board's consideration of this matter participate in the closed meeting. Okay. Uh Dr. Norther I Dr. I Mr. Hans I Mr. Hi Ashton. I miss I and we are in close meeting.