COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Department of Education

April 15, 2011

TO: Division Superintendents

FROM: Patricia I. Wright, Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT: Approval of Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) for 2010-2011 through 2013-2014

Among the requirements for schools and divisions to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), they must meet certain benchmarks or Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs) in reading and mathematics.  The AYP determination for a certain school year is based on the testing data from the previous year.

In July 2010, the United States Department of Education (USED) approved Virginia’s request to defer establishing AMOs for calculating AYP beyond the 2009-2010 school year because of impending new assessments in mathematics (2012) and English (2013).  In August 2010, USED revoked that decision with the justification that a state must have established AMOs, i.e., they could not be listed as “to be determined.”  USED then required Virginia to set AMOs through the 2013-2014 school year using an incremental approach.

On January 23, 2011, the Virginia Board of Education adopted the required AMOs as noted below.  On April 6, 2011, Virginia received USED approval of these AMOs for school years 2010-2011 through 2013-2014.

Virginia’s Amended AMOs
for School Years 2010-2011 through 2013-2014

The revised AMOs are now included in Virginia’s NCLB Amended Accountability Workbook, which is posted on the Virginia Department of Education’s Web site at
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/federal_programs/esea/applications/consolidated/consolidated_app_account_wkbk/accountability_workbook.pdf.

Questions about these AMOs should be directed to Mrs. Veronica Tate, director, Office of Program Administration and Accountability, at (804) 225-2870 or veronica.tate@doe.virginia.gov

PIW/VT