The following Board of Education Agenda Items as they pertain directly to NCLB, Praxis assessment and related licensure matters are provided for your information by Paul Joseph, president of JECS.

The BOE meets on April 28/29 at Virginia Crossings Conference Resort.

Agenda Item G is the Final Review of Virginia's Definition of Alternate Route for Highly Qualified Teachers. Of note from the previous definition deferred by the BOE is the added requirement that a teacher "demonstrate subject matter competency in each of the academic subject areas in which the teacher teaches, in a manner determined by the state in compliance with Section 9101 (23) of ESEA." This is defined on page 2 of the agenda item.

Agenda Item Q refers to the First Review of the Praxis I Score Review. It appears now that the studies taken place to date have, in effect, been a review of Praxis data not a full-fledged validation and standard-setting effort. DOE on behalf of ABTEL will recommend to the BOE that a validation and standard setting studies be completed. Check the BOE summary to see what action is recommended.

Agenda Item S refers to the reading assessment and simply updates the status of the assessment.