The School Board develops and implements programs of prevention, intervention, or remediation for students who are educationally at risk, including but not limited to those who fail to achieve a passing score on any Standards of Learning assessment in grades three through eight, or who fail an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit. Such programs shall include components that are research based.

Any student who achieves a passing score on one or more, but not all, of the Standards of Learning assessments for the relevant grade level in grades three through eight may be required to attend a remediation program.

Any student who fails to achieve a passing score on all of the Standards of Learning assessments for the relevant grade level in grades three through eight or who fails an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit is required to attend a remediation program or to participate in another form of remediation. The superintendent requires such students to take special programs of prevention, intervention, or remediation, which may include attendance in public summer school programs.

Remediation programs include, when applicable, a procedure for early identification of students who are at risk of failing the Standards of Learning assessments in grades three through eight or who fail an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit. Such programs may also include summer school for all elementary and middle school grades and for all high school academic courses, as defined by regulations promulgated by the Board of Education, or other forms of remediation. Summer school remediation programs or other forms of remediation are chosen by the superintendent to be appropriate to the academic needs of the student.

Students who are required to attend such summer school programs or to participate in another form of remediation are not charged tuition.

The requirement for remediation may, however, be satisfied by the student's attendance in a program of prevention, intervention or remediation which has been selected by his parent, in consultation with the superintendent or superintendent’s designee, and is either (i) conducted by an accredited private school or (ii) a special program which has been determined to be comparable to the required public school remediation program by the superintendent. The costs of such private school remediation program or other special remediation program are borne by the student's parent.

Targeted mathematics remediation and intervention are provided to students in grades six through eight who show computational deficiencies as demonstrated by their individual performance on any diagnostic test or grade-level Standards of Learning mathematics test that measures non-calculator computational skills.

The School Board annually evaluates and modifies, as appropriate, the remediation plan based on an analysis of the percentage of students meeting their remediation goals and consideration of the pass rate on the Standards of Learning assessments.

Summer School

The courses offered and the quality of instruction in a summer school program shall be comparable to that offered during the regular school term. Students must meet the requirements for SOL testing if appropriate.

Summer school instruction at any level which is provided as part of a state-funded remedial program is designed to improve specific identified student deficiencies.

Compulsory Attendance

When a student is required to participate in a remediation program pursuant to this policy, the superintendent may seek immediate compliance with the compulsory school attendance laws if a reasonable effort to seek the student’s attendance, including direct notification of the parents of such student of the attendance requirement and failure of the parents to secure the student’s attendance, have failed and the superintendent determines that remediation of the student's poor academic performance, passage of the Standards of Learning Assessment in grades three through eight, or promotion is related directly to the student's attendance in the remediation program.

Legal Reference(s):
Code of Virginia Section(s) 22.1-253.13:1,-22.1-253.13:3, 22.1-254, 22.1-254.01

8VAC 20-131-120

8VAC 20-630-40