Accountability & Assessments

School Accountability & Assessments

School accountability systems provide information about schools based on student test performance and other factors that influence student academic success and career readiness. Accountability systems are intended to provide transparent data to students, parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, etc. – to raise academic achievement and enable funding and resources to be directed to under-performing schools.

Federal Requirements under ESSA

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law in 2015, is a federal K-12 education law that establishes school quality measures, and designates about $18 billion in federal funding through nine title programs. It amended and re-authorized the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replaced ‘No Child Left Behind’ (2002-2015). ESSA provides states more flexibility over how to label and improve low-performing schools and places more emphasis on transparent reporting to parents.

Under ESSA, states decide the education plans, testing, and performance measurements for their schools within a framework provided by the federal government. ESSA specifically requires every state to measure performance in reading, math, and science, and to have a concise and easily understandable “State Report Card”. The State Report Card (which is called a School Quality Profile in Virginia) needs to be accessible online and provide test performance in reading, math, and science, data on graduation rates, suspensions, absenteeism, teacher qualifications, and per pupil spending.

Every three years, states must use the data from their accountability systems (both academic and nonacademic components) to identify schools “in need of improvement,” which must include the lowest-performing five percent of all schools in the state, schools where one or more subgroups are underperforming, or high schools with graduation rates of less than 67 percent. Under the ESSA, states are generally required to set aside at least 7 percent of their federal Title I funding each year to support school improvement activities. Virginia’s school accountability plan is required to be transparently reported in a ‘Consolidated State Plan’.

Virginia’s School Accountability Performance & Support Framework

In August 2024, the Virginia Board of Education approved Virginia’s ESSA Consolidated State plan, readiness weighting for different grade levels, and the overall school performance and support framework proposal as part of its package of accountability system changes. This approval replaced the 2017 Virginia accountability system, and will be fully implemented in the 2024-2025 school year, despite numerous concerns from across the education stakeholder community including parents, educators, school boards, principals, and superintendents.

Two broadly supported changes from the 2017 accountability system include the bifurcation of accountability (student test performance) and accreditation (meeting federal/state laws) into two separate measures, and the introduction of a new High School 3E Ready For Life Framework which focuses on durable skills and assigns points for Enrollment, Employment or Enlistment.

NEW SUMMATIVE PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES

The new ‘School Performance and Support Framework’ assigns 4 category labels to schools based on a 100 point scale: Distinguished (90+points); On Track (80-89 points); Off Track (65-79 points); Needs Intensive Support (Less than 65 points).

The Accountability Model is comprised of 50-65% Mastery (Standard of Learning test results); 20-25% Growth (Expected score increase compared to last year); and 10-35% Readiness (Chronic absenteeism blended with new ‘readiness’ indicators that include a new 5th/8th Grade “Performance Task” test and the new 3E Framework). High School Graduation is also included at 15% in the High School accountability model.

INTEGRATION OF FEDERAL CATEGORIES

Virginia will continue to identify schools and receive funding for school improvement based on the following three federal accountability categories.

Comprehensive Support & Improvement – CSI (Lowest performing 5% of Title schools/graduation rate lower than 67% or ATSI school identified more than 3 years);
Targeted Support & Improvement -TSI (Identified struggling student groups); and
Additional Targeted Support & Improvement ATSI (Identified student groups consistently for 3 years).

SUPPORT CATEGORIES FOR UNDERPERFORMING SCHOOLS

Virginia plans to provide support to improve school performance in the form of academic, organizational learning, school climate, and staffing in three tiered categories.

Tier 1 Support is optionally available to all schools.
Tier 2 Support is provided to divisions with schools labeled as “Off Track” or Targeted Support & Intervention (TSI).
Tier 3 Support will be provided to divisions with schools federally identified (CSI and ATSI) or a ‘Needs Intensive Support’ identified school.

Stakeholder Concerns about 2024 Accountability Framework

New High-Stakes ‘Performance Task’ Test: The new readiness indicator is based on 5th & 8th grade Performance Task Test. This new test is not based on an approved Standard of Learning, is not intended to guide new instruction, and is not developed or piloted. The “Performance Task” taken by a small subsection of the school will account for 5% of Elementary School accountability and 7.5% of the Middle School Readiness. Additionally the ‘Performance Task’ Test will be blended with chronic absenteeism obscuring test results.

Misaligned Advanced Coursework: Another component of the new readiness indicator includes evaluating middle schools based on ‘advanced’ coursework in math, science, and social studies. While many middle schools offer high school math, the current teacher licensure system is not designed to allow middle school teachers to teach high school level math classes. Additionally, the current science and social studies classes and assessments don’t allow alternative high school level classes. The advanced coursework component will count as 7.5% of the middle school rating.

Timing to include English Learner student test scores: English learner test scores will now be included after 3 semesters, prior to when most English Learners are proficient in English. In the 2017 model, English Learner scores are included after 11 semesters.

MOU Determination by Count of Schools: New Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be established for School Divisions that have 10 or more schools identified for comprehensive support or at least 40% of the schools identified for comprehensive or additional targeted support. The use of specific number count based on test cut score is concerning considering the vast difference in school division size.

Growth Weighting: Overweighting Performance (test score results) compared to Growth (year over year improvement) may not transparently reflect improvement in low-performing schools.

Implementation Timing Rollout is expedited with many components incomplete. Implementation is also concurrent with implementing the Virginia Literacy Act, which teachers are being trained on in the middle of the 2024-2025 school year, and the roll-out of new standard content for math, science, and social studies.

Supported Changes to the School Performance & Support Framework

Virginia PTA fully supports a robust and transparent accountability framework for our schools and believes it’s essential to educational excellence and impactful parent engagement. Virginia PTA also has a long history of supporting a comprehensive assessment (testing) system that includes multiple measures of student growth and achievement to reflect the depth and breadth of knowledge and skills that students are expected to acquire, as well as their capacity to perform critical competencies. It’s imperative that parents have access to transparent, easy to understand data about their child’s school.

Given the rushed implementation of the new School Performance & Support Framework, lack of development of several components, and the constant changing of metrics from July-November we urge the following changes:

Remove the Performance Task Tests. Performance Task tests are not based on an approved standard of learning, additionally 5th and 8th graders are already tested in every subject matter. Readiness should be defined as only Chronic Absenteeism at 5% or the lowest federally allowable minimum.
Re-evaluate Advanced Coursework. Refocus on only math advanced coursework, and offer math instructional micro-credentialing to enable all schools to provide instruction in high school math classes during middle school.
Adjust English Language Learner Inclusion: Timeframe of 3 semesters should be re-evaluated to 6 semesters and/or Standard of Learning tests should be offered in other commonly spoken languages.
Dedicated State Funding: Dedicated STATE funding should be designated for schools performing in the lowest two performance categories. The current system relies on federal support funding.
MOU Percentage Tiers: MOUs should be based on a percentage of underperforming schools and not a straight count of 10 schools given the wide disparity in school district size.
Opt-Outs: Parent Opt-Outs should NOT count as a zero in the performance mastery index.
Translate School Quality Profiles: School Report Cards are required by ESSA to be available for all parents. The School Quality Profiles should be translated in commonly spoken languages and accessible to parents and community members with disabilities.