Investment to help schools address student achievement and readiness

Youngkin order calls for cell phone-free education in public schools

RICHMOND, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — A multimillion budget investment aims to enhance the implementation of the Road to Readiness Resources Hub.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced $51.25 million on Monday.

According to a release, this investment will direct resources to students most in need as identified by the Virginia Board of Education’s School Performance and Support Framework.

The Road to Readiness Resource Hug was launched last month by the Virginia Department of Education.

It aims to provide insights into school performance and support mechanisms for students, families and educators.

“With this targeted investment, we are strengthening our commitment to deliver for students across the Commonwealth by ensuring resources directly reach those who need them most,” said Youngkin. “Our students cannot wait; therefore, we are making these investments now to accelerate learning and unleash opportunity to succeed.”

The release says the one-time $50 million investment and the $1.25 million ongoing funding to VDOE’s Office of School Quality for regional support specialists focused on math, literacy and science will prioritize additional resources to schools that have the most need to better support student achievement.

The $50 million set aside for fiscal year 2025 will support infrastructure, technical training and evidence-based supports needed for the preliminarily identified Needs Intensive Support schools.

The Virginia Board of Education and the VDOE will use the money for supports that focus on leadership development, mastery and growth, readiness support, capturing best practices, and the new Virginia IEP System modules.

During the first year of the program, $250,000 will go toward new Office of School Quality regional support specialists to help divisions and schools with the biggest student gaps in learning. The second year of the program will get the other $1 million.

“The Board is ready to prioritize these monies where the data says the greatest needs and student gaps are with evidence-based and effective practices and infrastructure to help our students truly be ready for life,” said Virginia Board of Education President Grace Creasey. “We must act swiftly to help students now, not years from now.”

This investment is on top of others that have gone toward education, including $1.6 billion in grants and loans for school construction.

The release says under the School Performance and Support Framework, K-12 public schools are evaluated based on an index of mastery, growth and readiness.

“Since Day One we said we would prioritize resources to support the students, schools, and communities that need it the most. Due to the unprecedented amount of actionable information available in the Performance Framework, this major investment makes it possible to provide the schools most in need with tailored resources that are focused on enhancing school performance and ensuring every learner is on track for success,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera.

Per the Framework, performance at elementary, middle and high schools will be evaluated on:

Mastery incorporates all student Standards of Learning (SOL) test results. It awards additional credit for students who reach advanced levels and partial credit for students who do not yet meet grade-level standards.
Growth uses past performance on Virginia SOL tests to measure expected learning and compare it to actual learning at the end of the year. The metric then compares expected learning to actual learning at the end of the year.
Readiness considers measures such as chronic absenteeism and the percentage of students demonstrating post-secondary readiness upon graduating from high school through the 3E Framework (Enrollment, Employment, and Enlistment). It also includes the percentage of students graduating on time.

Each of these areas of focus will be weighted differently for school levels:

Elementary Schools: Mastery (65 percent), Growth (25 percent), Readiness (10 percent)
Middle Schools: Mastery (60 percent), Growth (20 percent), Readiness (20 percent)
High Schools: Mastery (50 percent), Readiness (35 percent), Graduation (15 percent)

Finally, schools will be rated as distinguished, on track, off track or in need of intensive support.

The release says 273 schools are currently rated as distinguished, 883 are on track, 409 are off track, and 208 need intensive support.

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