VASS Legislative Conference Charlottesville October 24, 2016

Vice-President Virginia Board of Education Mrs. Joan Wodiska Vice-President Virginia Board of Education

The Virginia State Board of Education Overview

Cultural Shift: Our Shared Work to Collaboration Punish to Shared Responsibility Local Division Responsibility to Focus on Continuous Improvement Identification of Failure to Innovation Compliance

Contextual Shifts: Demands on K-12 High academic expectations for all Global economic job competition & demand skilled worker Virginia’s student needs More poverty More English Language Learners (with literacy challenges in their native languages) More high-service special education students (such as Autism)

Summary of SOQ Recommendations Recommended Staffing Changes FY 2018 Fiscal Impact Assistant Principal One for every 400 students $71.4 million Principal One full-time in every elementary school $6.8 million School Counselor One for every 250 students $82.4 million School Psychologist One for every 1,000 students $42.7 million School Social Worker $48.7 million School Nurse One for every 550 students $1.8 million Eliminate the cap on funded support positions $339.6 million

Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Steven R. Staples Superintendent of Public Instruction

Board Identified Priority Areas for Consideration for Student Preparation EXPAND the use of performance assessments and REDUCE the number of credits verified by SOL tests INCREASE internships and work-based learning experiences INCREASE career exposure, exploration, and planning EMPHASIZE the “5 Cs” (critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship)

Mechanisms of Accountability School Quality Profiles Accreditation (State) Every Student Succeeds Act (Federal) Standards of Quality Public reporting function Features important indicators of school quality Educational effectiveness function Measures reflects highest priorities Directs levels of support/intervention (school improvement) Accountability (Reporting to Public & Driving Continuous Improvement) So, finally, we move into the mechanisms of accountability which reflect the ways in which our expectations for accountability are communicated. You ‘ve discussed at length the redesign of the school quality profiles, which is the primary way in which our stakeholders typically access information about schools. We’ve also begun the discussion about state accreditation (which will continue in the next few slides) and in the next several months conversations about the new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, will also occur. These two systems, ideally aligned, represent the educational effectiveness function and reflect your highest priorities for schools. Finally, the standards of quality, which you discussed this morning, reflect the essential elements of schools and are designed to ensure the necessary resources are in place. Essential elements of schools function Ensures necessary resources are in place

Mechanisms of Accountability School Quality Profiles Accreditation (State) Every Student Succeeds Act (Federal) Standards of Quality Public reporting function Features important indicators of school quality Educational effectiveness function Measures reflects highest priorities Directs levels of support/intervention (school improvement) Accountability (Reporting to Public & Driving Continuous Improvement) For the remainder of the brief, we’ll focus on the orange bubble – state accreditation – but I’ll also reference how state accreditation aligns with the other mechanisms, particularly ESSA. Essential elements of schools function Ensures necessary resources are in place

Previous Conversations about Accreditation Virginia Accreditation Model Reflects: Framework aligned with priorities for school performance Multiple measures to examine student achievement and opportunities Matrix model to support targeted, strategic interventions Transparency in school effectiveness and quality Aligned with the overall system of accountability, the Virginia accreditation model also reflects several key tenets – a focus on select priorities for school performance, multiple measures to examine both student achievement and opportunities to learn, a matrix model that supports targeted, strategic interventions and increased transparency in how Virginia measures school effectiveness and quality.

Criteria for Selecting Quality Accreditation Metrics Research indicates metric is related to academic performance Standardized data collection procedures exist across schools and divisions Data for metric are reliable and valid Metric is modifiable through school-level policies and practices Metric meaningfully differentiates among schools based on progress of all students and student subgroups Metric does not unfairly impact one type/group of schools or students School-level metric is moderately to strongly correlated with school-level pass rates on state assessments So the quality of any accreditation model is really based on the quality of the metrics selected. This slide shows the process we developed and have already started to examine the quality of each of the metrics we’re considering in the accreditation matrix. I’ll expand on a few of criteria 4th down on the list – metric is modifiable through school-level policies and practices. If accreditation occurs at the school level, then we want to make sure the things we hold schools accountable for are actually within their control. 6th on the list – metric does not unfairly impact one type/group of schools or students. We want to ensure our metrics uniquely reflect school quality and add value when identifying struggling schools and are not just different lenses for looking at the same issue. Last but not least – school-level metric is correlated with school-level pass rates; so, we want to make sure that when the metric is aggregated from the student level to the school-level, it still retains its relationship with student academic performance

Questions? Mrs. Joan Woodiska Vice-President, Virginia Board of Education BOE@doe.virginia.gov Dr. Steven R. Staples Superintendent of Public Instruction Steven.Staples@doe.virginia.gov