“This is a monumental day for the West Virginia school system,” said State Superintendent of Schools David Stewart. “When I first took this job, I was faced with the fact that our state was not in compliance with federal assessment rules. The tireless work of WVDE staff is to thank for this achievement. ”  

In March 2002, the WVDE signed a compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Education. Specifically, the compliance agreement required West Virginia to:  

• Develop an academic assessment system that represents the full range of WVDE’s academic content standards and academic achievement standards in at least reading/language arts and mathematics
• Provide evidence of the alignment and technical quality of the state assessments
• Clarify how reasonable accommodations will be provided to students with disabilities and limited English proficient (LEP) students that allow them to be included in the accountability system
• Provide complete participation data for students with disabilities and LEP students
• Provide individual reports of student achievement relative to state performance standards
• Provide school, district and state level reports using disaggregated data by all the required categories

The U.S. Department of Education has determined that the WVDE has fulfilled all of its obligations highlighted in the compliance agreement.  

The West Virginia Department of Education is also leading the nation fulfilling the requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.  

“We commend West Virginia for being among the first five state to submit evidence for peer review of its standards and assessments under NCLB,” said Raymond Simon, U.S. Department of Education.