The Virginia state board of education has turned down a request from several district superintendents to recalculate the results of the state’s Standards of Learning tests without factoring in some lower-than-expected math scores at the 4th, 6th, and 7th grades.
The superintendents had asked for the leeway because this year was the first time that students in those grades were tested in mathematics. Some middle schools lost full state accreditation because of low scores on the tests.
In an Oct. 5 letter to the superintendents, board President Mark E. Emblidge said that state law prohibits the board from excluding any scores from a new test once the test has been given.
“I am confident that the lessons learned by all of us from the 2005-06 test will result in higher student achievement this year,” Mr. Emblidge wrote in the letter.
