Virginia seeks waiver from SOL testing
3/19/2020, 6 p.m.
Virginia’s schools superintendent is asking the U.S. Department of Education to consider canceling the Standards of Learning exams in the wake of school closures because of COVID-19.
The U.S. Department of Education said it would grant flexibility from testing requirements on a school-by-school basis. But Virginia education officials said Tuesday they plan to ask for a statewide waiver because every school is dealing with the same disruption.
The state doesn’t have a waiver yet, but joins the list of about a half dozen states that have requested one.
The Virginia Department of Education “has advised school divisions of the flexibility they already have to delay Standards of Learning testing, but it is clear that we now have to take additional steps to ensure that schools and students — especially seniors completing their graduation requirements — are not adversely impacted by circumstances beyond their control,” Dr. James F. Lane, state superintendent of public instruction, said Tuesday.
The state Department of Education also is looking at graduation requirements to make sure seniors who would otherwise graduate this spring won’t be denied diplomas.
“That could mean exemptions from some requirements unrelated to coursework,” Dr. Lane said.
