Virginia to consider high school graduation benchmarks for accreditation

Virginia's public schools could soon have to meet graduation benchmarks just as they do for academics to earn accreditation, depending on the outcome of a state Board of Education vote expected tomorrow.

"This is a big change; this is a significant addition to our accountability program," said Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle.

It's "not just how the students perform on the test, because that's only going to tell you about the students who are in the school, it's also for high schools, the kind of job the school does keeping the students engaged and keeping them on track and ultimately making sure that they leave schools with a diploma."

The state would use an index to calculate the rate by awarding points for various credentials, ranging from 100 points for students who graduate in four years or less, to 75 for those who earn a General Educational Development diploma.

A school would need a graduating class with a minimum of 85 percentage points to be fully accredited.

Despite a series of tweaks made after a three-month public comment period that ended Nov. 5, at least one group would like the board to postpone a vote and consider more changes.

"What Virginia has done is a really big deal. We're pretty excited about the steps the board has taken to address critical issues such as dropouts," said Angela Ciolfi, an attorney with JustChildren.

That said, she would like to see the target closer to the points assigned to a diploma, and she would prefer different values for diplomas types were not given equal value so that schools have more incentive to encourage students to earn more academically advanced diplomas.

The Department of Education has made several changes.

It previously called for a start date in the 2009-10 year, but in the face of a state budget shortfall, educators are seeking a one-year delay in enactment.

The three-month public input session drew 475 comments that the board is scheduled to consider at its meeting at 9 a.m. tomorrow on the 22nd floor of the James Monroe Building, 101 N. 14th St. in Richmond.

The board also will consider whether to require all students to have an academic and career plan, starting in middle school, and whether to require a course in economics and personal finance for several diplomas.

Contact Olympia Meola at (804) 649-6812 or .