COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

 

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 45

August 5, 2005

ADMINISTRATIVE


TO:

Division Superintendents

 

FROM:

Jo Lynne DeMary

Superintendent of Public Instruction

 

SUBJECT:

Appeals of AYP Accountability Decisions for Schools and School Divisions Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

 

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and accompanying federal regulations, permit schools and school divisions to appeal their adequate yearly progress (AYP) accountability decisions. AYP accountability decisions include:

The Board of Education approved the appeals processes through its adoption of the Amended Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook on May 26, 2004.

 

 

Appeal of a Schools AYP Accountability Decision

 

Section 1116(b)(2) of NCLB states that school divisions must provide schools with an opportunity to review the data upon which their AYP accountability decisions are based. If a school believes the proposed decision is in error, the school may provide supporting evidence to the school division, and the school division must review the evidence before making a final decision. The decision is forwarded to the Department of Education, Office of Program Administration and Accountability.

 

The guidelines and procedures for school divisions to use in considering schools appeals to their AYP accountability decisions are found in Attachment A of this memo.

 

Appeal of a School Divisions AYP Accountability Decision

 

Section 1116(c)(5) of NCLB specifies that states must provide school divisions with an opportunity to review the data upon which their AYP accountability decisions are based. If a school division believes the proposed decision is in error, the division may provide supporting evidence to the state, and the state must review the evidence before making a final decision. The evidence is forwarded to the Department of Education, Office of Program Administration and Accountability.

 

The guidelines and procedures for school divisions to use in appealing AYP accountability decisions are found in Attachment B of this memo.

 

Record Changes

 

The school division should ensure appropriate record changes, if any, have been made before submitting an appeal. The Department of Education has sent instructions for online record changes to the division director of testing (DDOT). If you have questions about the record change process, please contact the Division of Assessment and Reporting at darfax@doe.virginia.gov or by phone at (804) 225-2102.

 

If you have questions or need additional information about either of the appeals processes, contact Duane Sergent, reports and grants manager, duane.sergent@doe.virginia.govor at (804) 371-2929.

 

 

JLD/BAS/hmt

 

Attachments

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2005/adm045a.pdf http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2005/adm045b.pdf