Category: Testing
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Spanberger Admin Proposes Extending Virginia’s Lowest-in-Nation English and Math State Standards for 2 More Years
After years of delays, the proposed additional delay sets up a likely strong push for another delay in 2 years by powerful lobbying groups for those who work in the K-12 system…at the expense of Virginia students and parents As a supporter of Governor Abigail Spanberger, I’ve been impressed by much of the new administration’s…
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Thankful for Virginia’s SOL Exams
Transparency and Accountability Where Local Systems Fell Short by Todd Truitt My guest commentary this week in the Richmond Times-Dispatch expresses thankfulness for Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. Before statewide testing, local assessments often masked poor performance and hid achievement gaps from parents and policymakers. The SOLs brought essential transparency and continue to keep…
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Accountability Is the Broccoli of Education Reform. States Must Eat More of It.
by Jeb Bush, The 74 Publisher’s note by Todd Truitt Virginia’s recent overhaul of its school accountability system and upcoming overhaul of its assessment system offers a timely case study for the argument advanced in Jeb Bush’s OpEd below. His arguments on the importance of accountability and assessment largely mirror those made by the leading educational…
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Excluding Social Studies from Accountability to Preserve Inquiry Is Mistaken
America’s Teachers Are “Drunk” on Inquiry-Based Learning: Why Virginia Should Include Social Studies in its Accountability Standards by Jaime Osborne I attended the recent National Council of the Social Studies (NCSS) annual conference in Washington, D.C., an event that draws thousands of educators from across the country. Unsurprisingly, inquiry-based learning dominated the agenda. Even sessions…
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After Last Year’s Overhaul, Va. Lawmakers Consider Tweaking K-12 Assessment Testing
Bills would address students’ final grade, administration of tests and retakes by Nathaniel Cline Less than a year after it was enacted, lawmakers will revisit a proposal that brought major changes to Virginia’s K-12 public school testing system, with the main debate centering on whether to keep or repeal a provision passed last year that…
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Senate Bill Grabs Political Third Rail of Diploma Exit Exams
by Todd Truitt Senator Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax County, is sponsoring a bill this legislative session that would require the Virginia Board of Education to develop and “implement alternative graduation pathways” that allow students to earn a Standard Diploma without passing the statewide Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments. Currently to graduate from high school in Virginia,…
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Virginia’s New K-12 School Report Cards
by Todd Truitt In December 2025, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued new school report cards for the 2024-25 school year under the new school accountability system. The school report cards provide an overview of schools’ performance under the new system, as well as summarize such results into 1 of 4 summative ratings: Distinguished;…
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New School Accountability System Could Use Some Tweaking
by Matt Hurt In December JLARC released a report on the School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF), Virginia’s new accountability system. The report states that the new system is better than the old Accreditation system, but improvements are needed. From the perspective of an educator who has spent the last twenty years focusing on student outcomes and…
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Mississippi and Louisiana Schools’ Decade-Long Surge Past Virginia
by Todd Truitt Much attention has been paid lately to what’s being called the “Southern Surge” in K-12 education on the National Assessment of Education Progress (aka, the nation’s report card or NAEP). Misinformed statements made during the recent New Jersey gubernatorial debate about Mississippi and Louisiana’s educational results have shed new light on the…
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Talking SOL Testing Reform with Senator VanValkenburg
by Todd Truitt I met with Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, this summer over tacos at a restaurant in his district to discuss what’s next with Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) exam reform. VanValkenburg is the Chair of the Senate Public Education Subcommittee and a high school Social Studies teacher in Henrico County. Whoever wins the…