“State leaders have lowered expectations for students and redefined success for both students and schools,” says the report, and that’s for sure. In 2017 the Virginia Board of Education reduced the importance of grade-level proficiency in school accreditation.
The education board also voted to lower proficiency standards on state exams. This has exacerbated Virginia’s “honesty gap,” which is the difference in student proficiency levels between state tests and the NAEP. While other states have closed these gaps, “Virginia is the only state to define proficiency on its fourth-grade reading test below the NAEP Basic level and also sets the lowest bars in the nation for fourth-grade math and eighth-grade reading,” says the report.