Public school accountability system and performance framework; revisions and amendments required.

A BILL to direct the Department of Education to revise the public school accountability system and performance framework and submit amendments to its consolidated state plan.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.
§ 1.
That the Department of Educa
t
ion shall revise the public school accountability system adopted pursuant to 8
-
VAC2
0-132
of the Virginia Administrative Code
, in accordance with the federal accountability provisions set forth in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (P.L. No.
89-10
)
, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and
its School Performance and Support Framewor
k as necessary to:

1. Establish
and implement by the 2026–2027 school year
a fourth performance level
, to be designated as "below basic
,
" as an academic achievement indicator for those assessments with only three performance levels, including History and Social Science assessments
and
high school end-of-course assessments
;

2. Delay
until the 2026–2027 school year
the implementation of the f
ourth performance level for Science in grades
five
and
eight
;

3.
Establish as the preferred
accountability measure for history and social science for the purposes of the mastery index
the exclusive use of performance-based assessments;

4. Prohibit or eliminate the implementation of expanded
middle school advance coursework
such that students in middle school shall not be permitted
to take
(i)
the high school world geography or world history I cour
se and the applicable end-of
-course assessment
or
(ii)
the high school earth science course

and the applicable end-of-course assessment;

5. Change
from a "B" grade to a "C" grade
the minimum gr
ade required to earn 0.5 points in a Junior Reserve Officer
s'
Training Corps or equivalent leadership course under the 3E Readiness Framework developed as a part of the Schoo
l Performance and Support Framework;

6.
Eliminate the provision providing that any school identified for "targeted support and improvement"
und
er the federal accountability system pursuant to ESSA shall have its performance category under the School Performanc
e and Support Framework reduced by one level;
and

7. Ensure that the refusal of any pa
rent
to have his child take any
required Standards of Learning assessment does not impact the calculations
for the mastery index for the purposes of measuring
achievement
, except to the extent
necessary to ensure the school meets the required federal participation rate pursuant to ESSA.

The Department of Education shall, by September 1, 2026, submit to the U.S. Department of Education any amendments to its consolidated state plan under ESSA that are necessary to implement the provisions of this
act
.

§ 2. That the Department of Education shall develop and make available
to schools and families by the beginning of the 2026–2027 school year clear, timely explanations
for
and guidance

materials
on the computation methodology for the vertical scaled scores and value
tables
implemented for us
e
as a growth model for student assessments
.