HB 1905 (Cole) Adds to objectives developed and approved by the Board of Education for economics education and financial literacy at the middle and high school levels the implications of various employment arrangements with regard to benefits, protections, and long-term financial sustainability. Employment arrangements is defined in the bill as full-time employment, part-time employment, independent contract work, gig work, piece work, contingent work, day labor work, freelance work, and 1099 work. The committee reported the legislation on a 7-0 vote.
HB 2027 (Coyner) Requires, no later than the 2024-2025 school year, each reading and mathematics Standards of Learning assessment for students in grades three through eight to (i) be administered three times per school year, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of each school year, for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year and (ii) provide accurate measurement of a student's performance outside of his grade level through the incorporation, through computer adaptive technology, of test items at grade levels below and above the tested level. The bill requires any student growth data to include such measurement of outside-of-grade-level performance. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill prohibits the total time spent taking each such assessment over each of the three annual administrations from exceeding 150 percent of the time spent taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment. The committee reported the bill with a recommendation to refer the legislation to the House Appropriations Committee on a 7-1 vote.
HB 2058 (Simonds) Creates the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board to create a unified vision regarding STEM education initiatives, language, and measures of success to promote a culture of collaboration for STEM programming in the Commonwealth. The Board shall develop the infrastructure for creating STEM Regional Hubs and naming STEM Champions in communities across the Commonwealth. Additionally, the Board shall report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly on STEM challenges, goals, and successes across the Commonwealth. The committee reported the bill with a recommendation to refer the legislation to the House Appropriations Committee on a 8-0 vote.
