Board of Education President Mark Emblidge
Appoints School and Division Accountability Committee

Board of Education President Mark E. Emblidge today announced the formation of a committee to study chronically low-performing schools and school divisions and make recommendations on increasing accountability for effective instruction and achievement. The Board of Education Committee on School and Division Accountability initially will focus on schools that lose state accreditation because of low student achievement and schools and divisions that have yet to meet annual benchmarks in reading and mathematics under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).

“This committee will take a close look at these schools and divisions and make recommendations on additional tools and interventions that may be needed to ensure that all children in the commonwealth attend schools that at the very least meet minimum state and federal proficiency standards and objectives,” said Dr. Emblidge.

Dr. Emblidge named Board of Education member David L. Johnson of Richmond as chairman of the committee. Board members Thomas M. Brewster of Tazewell County and Kelvin L. Moore of Lynchburg, will also serve on the panel, which will build on the work of previous committees that oversaw the initial implementation of NCLB, studied low-performing school divisions, and revised the commonwealth’s Standards of Quality and school accreditation standards.

“The board needs to know how well our current statewide system of support for schools is working,” said Mr. Johnson. “By focusing on the schools and divisions that have not shared in the success most of our schools have enjoyed under the Standards of Learning (SOL) program, this committee will be able to determine whether new programs and policies are needed.”

Ninety-two percent of Virginia’s 1,834 schools are fully accredited and 83 percent are meeting the annual goals of NCLB. State and federal accountability ratings for 2006-2007 (based on student achievement during 2005-2006) will be released later this summer.

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