Changes VDOE made in July 2024 to paperwork that families must fill out for their child to qualify to take the Virginia Alternative Assessment Program (VAAP) has resulted in children with disabilities who have been on the VAAP track for years being told they are no longer eligible and put in SOL-track classes. While I fully support more students graduating with standard diplomas, as the applied studies diploma is essentially a certificate of attendance and not recognized federally as a diploma, VDOE did not include any mechanisms to successfully transition from VAAP track classes to SOL classes. My child was impacted by this. She has not been adequately taught addition or subtraction and has not had any instruction in multiplication or division, and yet - as an 8th grader now no longer eligible for VAAP track, was put into a PreAlgebra class. This is a disservice both to my daughter and to her teachers, as it sets them both up to fail. The ESSA requirement that 1% or less of the population take the alternative assessment only applies to the assessment itself - not the diploma the children receives. So right now Virginia is refusing to allow these students to take the alternative assessment, while at the same time not providing them the knowledge needed to actually take and pass SOLs at all. Virginia will look better on paper being under 1%, but these kids will still graduate with applied studies diplomas having been given no way to realistically pass an SOL. Alternative pathways to standard diplomas are necessary, or these children with be lost in the cracks where no one is being held accountable for their progress - a free and appropriate public education requires more than just sitting in a classroom. It requires that districts and states be accountable for the progress of ALL kids. I strongly urge the general assembly to support additional alternative pathways to earning a standard diplomas. Please keep in mind that colleges now have programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities - like George Mason and Syracuse University. But our children can't access financial aid to attend these colleges without federally recognized diplomas, which the applied studies diploma is not. If the state is going to say these kids can't take the alternative assessment because they don't qualify any longer, the state has a responsibility to remediate instruction - to provide the instruction the VAAP track denied them - and provide alternatives to graduate with a standard diploma.
Changes VDOE made in July 2024 to paperwork that families must fill out for their child to qualify to take the Virginia Alternative Assessment Program (VAAP) has resulted in children with disabilities who have been on the VAAP track for years being told they are no longer eligible and put in SOL-track classes. While I fully support more students graduating with standard diplomas, as the applied studies diploma is essentially a certificate of attendance and not recognized federally as a diploma, VDOE did not include any mechanisms to successfully transition from VAAP track classes to SOL classes. My child was impacted by this. She has not been adequately taught addition or subtraction and has not had any instruction in multiplication or division, and yet - as an 8th grader now no longer eligible for VAAP track, was put into a PreAlgebra class. This is a disservice both to my daughter and to her teachers, as it sets them both up to fail. The ESSA requirement that 1% or less of the population take the alternative assessment only applies to the assessment itself - not the diploma the children receives. So right now Virginia is refusing to allow these students to take the alternative assessment, while at the same time not providing them the knowledge needed to actually take and pass SOLs at all. Virginia will look better on paper being under 1%, but these kids will still graduate with applied studies diplomas having been given no way to realistically pass an SOL. Alternative pathways to standard diplomas are necessary, or these children with be lost in the cracks where no one is being held accountable for their progress - a free and appropriate public education requires more than just sitting in a classroom. It requires that districts and states be accountable for the progress of ALL kids. I strongly urge the general assembly to support additional alternative pathways to earning a standard diplomas. Please keep in mind that colleges now have programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities - like George Mason and Syracuse University. But our children can't access financial aid to attend these colleges without federally recognized diplomas, which the applied studies diploma is not. If the state is going to say these kids can't take the alternative assessment because they don't qualify any longer, the state has a responsibility to remediate instruction - to provide the instruction the VAAP track denied them - and provide alternatives to graduate with a standard diploma.