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K-12 education content standards in Virginia
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This page features the following information about who sets K-12 education content standards in Virginia public schools:
- The state entity with the authority to approve K-12 education content standards.
- Whether Virginia requires or recommends that local schools or districts follow the K-12 education content standards.
- The statutory or regulatory language in Virginia governing the development and application of K-12 education content standards.
Background
State education officials develop content standards in order to facilitate curriculum development for public schools. This section examines the role of content standards in public instruction and the different state approaches that either require or recommend their use in public schools.
What are content standards?
Content standards are educational learning and achievement goals that state education officials either require or recommend that local schools satisfy in K-12 instruction. Content standards are not curriculum but rather aim to guide the development of what state officials view as a robust K-12 curriculum.[1]
The development of K-12 education content standards in public schools varies across the 50 states. State boards of education, state education agency leaders, and local school districts, for example, may play a role in the development and approval of content standards.
Do states recommend or require schools to follow content standards?
State statutes or regulations may require or recommend the use of K-12 education content standards in public instruction.
Some states require local schools to align curriculum with content standards by establishing content standards as a minimum course of study. Such states may also require local schools or districts to adopt content standards as part of their curriculum, or they may require students to demonstrate mastery of content standards through state assessments.
Other states recommend that local schools or districts follow state content standards.
Who sets state K-12 education content standards in Virginia?
The following section provides information about the development and application of K-12 education content standards in Virginia as of 2022.
The table below identifies the state entity tasked with setting content standards, whether the content standards are recommendations or requirements for local schools, and the governing statute(s). The text of the governing statute(s) is provided below the table.
| Virginia K-12 education content standards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Entity | Recommendations or requirements? | Statute or Regulation |
| Board of Education | Requirements | Code of Virginia § 22.1-253.13:1 |
Code of Virginia § 22.1-253.13:1:
| “ | Standard 1. Instructional programs supporting the Standards of Learning and other educational objectives.
B. The Board of Education shall establish educational objectives known as the Standards of Learning, which shall form the core of Virginia's educational program, and other educational objectives, which together are designed to ensure the development of the skills that are necessary for success in school and for preparation for life in the years beyond. At a minimum, the Board shall establish Standards of Learning for English, mathematics, science, and history and social science. The Standards of Learning shall not be construed to be regulations as defined in § 2.2-4001. The Board shall seek to ensure that the Standards of Learning are consistent with a high-quality foundation educational program. The Standards of Learning shall include, but not be limited to, the basic skills of communication (listening, speaking, reading, and writing); computation and critical reasoning, including problem solving and decision making; proficiency in the use of computers and related technology; computer science and computational thinking, including computer coding; and the skills to manage personal finances and to make sound financial decisions. The English Standards of Learning for reading in kindergarten through grade three shall be based on components of effective reading instruction, to include, at a minimum, phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and text comprehension. The Standards of Learning in all subject areas shall be subject to regular review and revision to maintain rigor and to reflect a balance between content knowledge and the application of knowledge in preparation for eventual employment and lifelong learning. The Board of Education shall establish a regular schedule, in a manner it deems appropriate, for the review, and revision as may be necessary, of the Standards of Learning in all subject areas. Such review of each subject area shall occur at least once every seven years. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Board from conducting such review and revision on a more frequent basis. To provide appropriate opportunity for input from the general public, teachers, and local school boards, the Board of Education shall conduct public hearings prior to establishing revised Standards of Learning. Thirty days prior to conducting such hearings, the Board shall give notice of the date, time, and place of the hearings to all local school boards and any other persons requesting to be notified of the hearings and publish notice of its intention to revise the Standards of Learning in the Virginia Register of Regulations. Interested parties shall be given reasonable opportunity to be heard and present information prior to final adoption of any revisions of the Standards of Learning. In addition, the Department of Education shall make available and maintain a website, either separately or through an existing website utilized by the Department of Education, enabling public elementary, middle, and high school educators to submit recommendations for improvements relating to the Standards of Learning, when under review by the Board according to its established schedule, and related assessments required by the Standards of Quality pursuant to this chapter. Such website shall facilitate the submission of recommendations by educators. School boards shall implement the Standards of Learning or objectives specifically designed for their school divisions that are equivalent to or exceed the Board's requirements. Students shall be expected to achieve the educational objectives established by the school division at appropriate age or grade levels. The curriculum adopted by the local school division shall be aligned to the Standards of Learning. The Board of Education shall include in the Standards of Learning for history and social science the study of contributions to society of diverse people. For the purposes of this subsection, "diverse" includes consideration of disability, ethnicity, race, and gender. The Board of Education shall include in the Standards of Learning for health instruction in emergency first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the use of an automated external defibrillator, including hands-on practice of the skills necessary to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Such instruction shall be based on the current national evidence-based emergency cardiovascular care guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of an automated external defibrillator, such as a program developed by the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross. No teacher who is in compliance with subdivision D 3 of § 22.1-298.1 shall be required to be certified as a trainer of cardiopulmonary resuscitation to provide instruction for non-certification. With such funds as are made available for this purpose, the Board shall regularly review and revise the competencies for career and technical education programs to require the full integration of English, mathematics, science, and history and social science Standards of Learning. Career and technical education programs shall be aligned with industry and professional standard certifications, where they exist. The Board shall establish content standards and curriculum guidelines for courses in career investigation in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Each school board shall (i) require each middle school student to take at least one course in career investigation or (ii) select an alternate means of delivering the career investigation course to each middle school student, provided that such alternative is equivalent in content and rigor and provides the foundation for such students to develop their academic and career plans. Any school board may require (a) such courses in career investigation at the high school level as it deems appropriate, subject to Board approval as required in subsection A of § 22.1-253.13:4, and (b) such courses in career investigation at the elementary school level as it deems appropriate. The Board shall develop and disseminate to each school board career investigation resource materials that are designed to ensure that students have the ability to further explore interest in career and technical education opportunities in middle and high school. In developing such resource materials, the Board shall consult with representatives of career and technical education, industry, skilled trade associations, chambers of commerce or similar organizations, and contractor organizations.[2] |
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See also
- K-12 education content standards in the states
- Overview of trends in K-12 curricula development
- Use of the term critical race theory (CRT)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Common Core State Standards Initiative, "What are educational standards?" accessed April 21, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
