Adopting Revised Science Standards of Learning
Resolution Number 2010-25
June 24, 2010
The Board of Education adopted the amendments to the Virginia Consolidated State Application Accountability Plan and authorized the Department to submit the request to USED for approval so that the methodology may be used to make AYP determinations in the summer of 2010.
The amendments to Virginia Consolidated State Application Accountability Plan are as follows:
Annual Measurable Objectives for Graduation Rate (Critical Element 3.2b) and Targets for Continuous and Substantial Improvement (§200.19 (b)(3)(i).)
Revised Proposal, June 24, 2010
Request:
Virginia will report and use for federal reporting and accountability a federal graduation indicator using the prescribed calculation that does not permit cohorts to be adjusted to account for students’ English language learner or disability status, and only includes Virginia’s standard and advanced studies diplomas in the numerator. Consistent with the regulations, Virginia’s federal graduation indicator is an adjusted cohort graduation rate based on cohorts of students who enter ninth grade for the first time; it is adjusted for students who transfer in, transfer out, or are deceased. Because the complete data on student graduation and completion, including summer graduates, are not available until after adequate yearly progress (AYP) determinations are made each year, Virginia will calculate AYP based on the previous year’s data. This will permit the calculations to be available in time to make AYP determinations before the beginning of the school year.
Virginia will report four-, five-, and six-year federal graduation indicators for the state, schools, and school divisions as they become available. Six-year adjusted graduation indicators will be available in the fall of 2010, and first applied to AYP determinations made in the summer of 2011. Virginia will report the federal graduation indicator beginning with the ninth-grade cohort of 2004-2005; four-year graduates from this cohort would have earned diplomas by the end of the 2008 school year.
Virginia will use the federal graduation indicator for purposes of making AYP determinations beginning in the summer of 2010. Virginia requests that the following be approved for making AYP determinations:
- Statewide goal: 80 percent of students graduate with a regular diploma in four, or five, or six years.
- Targets for continuous and substantial improvement: 10 percent reduction in the percent of non-graduating students from the previous year applied only to the adjusted four-year federal graduation rate.
Virginia will average graduation data over three years to minimize annual variations in data impacting AYP determinations, as is permitted in Section 1111(b)(2)(J) of the ESEA. Averaging will be applied to the four-year, five-year, and six-year rates when more than one year of graduation data is available.
For purposes of calculating AYP for the Limited English Proficient (LEP) subgroup, Virginia will apply a definition of LEP students that is consistent with the longitudinal nature of the accountability measure. English language learners who meet the federal definition of LEP at any time since first entering the adjusted cohort will be included in the LEP student subgroup for purposes of accountability. This would include all students identified as LEP for calculating the pass rates for federal accountability and students who were identified as LEP at any time since first entering ninth grade or otherwise transferring into the adjusted cohort. Students who were identified as LEP in the early years of high school but are no longer part of the LEP subgroup when they graduate have benefitted from the instruction that our schools provide; our accountability system should reflect their commitment and successes.
Rationale:
VDOE has been notified that USED will not approve Virginia’s request to waive certain provisions of CFR §200.19 as requested previously. Conversations with staff at USED and a review of approved goals and targets from other states indicates that the approach described herein complies with the federal regulations and accompanying nonregulatory guidance provided by USED. Virginia’s overall approach is similar to Michigan’s approved model. Michigan, like Virginia, included extended-year graduation rates and their targets for continuous and substantial improvement are similar to those proposed. Virginia’s approach establishes a statewide graduation rate goal that is consistent with state accountability requirements. The targets for continuous and substantial improvement are challenging and recognize school and school division efforts to improve high school graduation rates.
Mark E. Emblidge
President
Minutes of June 24, 2010
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