SB 855 Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

SOL assessments & related student assessment methods; assessment development, etc., reform.

Summary
Board of Education; Standards of Learning assessments and related student assessment methods; assessment development, implementation, and administration reform. Modifies provisions relating to assessment methods for determining the level of achievement of the Standards of Learning objectives by all students, including (i) requirements relating to assessment administration aimed at maximizing instructional time and optimizing time used for assessment administration; (ii) criteria and guidelines for the structure and content of Standards of Learning assessments and alternative assessments developed by local school boards, including criteria for the types of assessment items that shall be included; (iii) provisions relating to eligibility and timelines for students to retake assessments; and (iv) the scoring of Standards of Learning assessments and related assessments, including a requirement that all such assessments be scored on a 100-point scale. The bill requires the Board of Education to provide any teacher who participates in the scoring of Standards of Learning assessments professional development points toward renewal of his license for the time spent scoring such assessments. The bill also requires the Board of Education to develop and make available to each school board certain templates and guidelines relating to assessment content and structure and assessment scoring.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 3, 2025 Last action Feb 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Education and Health Substitute · 4 edits
MODERATE
This bill amends Virginia's education assessment laws to reform how student performance is measured, including changes to assessment frequency, local alternative assessments, and test security protections. The substitute version streamlines formatting and clarifies implementation timelines while maintaining the core policy intent of the original bill.
Scope change
No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; the document represents a formatting and structural revision of the same legislative proposal.
TECHNICAL

Changed document header from 'Introduced' to 'Senate Substitute' with updated bill number and committee attribution

Reorganized text layout and removed extraneous line breaks while preserving all substantive policy provisions

TIMELINE

Adjusted implementation deadlines and reporting schedules to align with the substitute version's formatting structure

POLICY

All substantive policy provisions regarding assessment methods, local alternative assessments, and test security remain identical to the original version

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
7
Key actions
1
Committee
3
Jan 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N)
upper
Jan 16, 2025
Committee
Assigned Education sub: Public Education
upper
Jan 3, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on Education and Health
upper
1 primary · 2 co-sponsors

Sponsors