As Dept. of Ed prepares for new academic benchmarks, education leaders call for more transparency

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Virginia Department of Education is facing calls for greater transparency regarding plans to raise academic benchmarks for students, Virginia Mercury reports.

Education leaders and critics said that while they understand the need to raise expectations, they are concerned that the results of adjusting cut scores — used to determine whether K-12 students are meeting proficiency levels — could negatively impact equitable access to education, lead to teacher burnout, and decrease graduation rates.

Before seeking the Board of Education’s final approval, VDOE stated at the board’s Aug. 28 business meeting that it plans to provide a modeling and impact analysis using this year’s assessment results to determine how each school division would have performed under the p