For the second year in a row, Virginia's public school system ranked fourth in the nation in the release of Education Week's Quality Counts report earlier this month. The commonwealth received an overall grade of a B-minus, compared with the national average of a C.\nThe annual report ranks state public school systems according to six areas: K-12 achievement, school finance, chance for success, policies related to transitions and alignment, the teaching profession and standards, and assessment and accountability.\nKacy Sellers - a research associate in Editorial Projects in Education - said grading for these six areas was based on surveys, four of which were sent out directly to state departments of education to evaluate the policies already in place in each state, and two of which measured outcome and achievement based on testing.\nThe recession a had significant impact on education both in Virginia and across the country as schools faced dramatic budget cuts.\nNevertheless, a press release from Education Week showed that education has become the "engine of the jobs recovery, with education-related positions accounting for more than half (337,000 jobs) of all jobs saved or created through federal stimulus spending."\nDespite Virginia's high ranking, officials at the state's Department of Education noted that improvement is still necessary.\n"We have achievement gaps to overcome as students are achieving at high enough levels at the elementary level, but the excitement for learning seems to drop off at the middle-school level," said Charles Pyle, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Education.\nHe noted that challenges facing middle-school students in terms of development and interaction with peers could cause such drops in achievement at this age. To counter these drops, Department of Education officials are raising the bar for middle-school students.\n"By raising expectations for these students and requiring them to stretch, we expect to see higher achievement," Pyle said. He hopes that these measures "increase the percentage of students who enter high school on trajectories that result in them graduating with college- and career-ready skills".\nThe department also saw other areas where improvement was needed. Virginia ranked ninth in the category of "Providing Opportunities to Succeed," almost 10 points behind first-ranking Massachusetts.\nGov. Bob McDonnell also outlined further plans for improvement and called for "tax credits for corporations that help disadvantaged children gain access to new educational opportunities" and to promote a pilot program providing pay grants for schools that are having trouble attracting and retaining quality teachers, he stated.\nThese improvements will help the state line up with the federal government's goal to "shore up the foundations of the economy by upgrading skills in the workforce," as stated in the Education Week press release. The hope is that higher education in students will yield success for the nation as a whole as job preparedness will improve.\n"We must continue to provide more options for our young people and parents while ensuring accountability at every level in our public school system.
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