Virginia's K-12 Education Reform:
Raising Student Achievement in Virginia

          The following information packet was prepared at the request of the Board of Education to provide a chronology and summary of each phase of the educational reform taking place in Virginia. The Commonwealth of Virginia initiated comprehensive reform in public education four years ago when the Board of Education adopted rigorous, specific grade-by-grade Standards of Learning (SOLs). Since that time a testing program based on the SOLs has been implemented and new Standards of Accreditation (SOA) adopted for schools which incorporate test results in requirements for student high school graduation and individual school accreditation. In the spring of 1999, school performance report cards were sent to local school divisions for direct mailing to parents for the first time. They will be provided annually. Implementation support in terms of instructional models, teacher training, provision of materials and model curricula, and the establishment of eight Governor’s Best Practices Centers is underway in the Department of Education.

The information packet contains the following sections in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe's Acrobat reader you may download it here .

• Executive Summary
• A Chronology
• Virginia’s Standards of Learning
• Standards of Learning Tests
• The Standards of Accreditation
• The School Performance Report Card
• Frequently Asked Questions