Va.'s New NCLB Targets: To Be Determined
By guest blogger Stephen Sawchuk
So just what percentage of Virginia students have to be on grade level in each school to make "adequate yearly progress" under the No Child Left Behind Act? Well, it has to exceed 81 percent this year, and after that ... the state doesn't actually know yet and neither, apparently, does the U.S. Department of Education.
The genesis of this situation is in this request from the state, to hold its AYP target steady at 81 percent this year, and this letter from the Education Department.
Theoretically this is no big whoop, as states have been permitted to submit amendments to their accountability plans since the early days of the law. In the past, ED has let a handful of states re-set the targets following major changes to their instructional programs, like adopting a harder curriculum. Virginia officials are making the
