INTERVIEW – GERARD ROBINSON — is the former COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION for the State of FLORIDA and former SECRETARY OF EDUCATION for the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA.  He is also a RESIDENT FELLOW at the AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (AEI), where he works on education policy issues & former Secretary of Education in VA and FL

• School informed parents of low-performing students they could opt out of state tests. (Washington Post) –  As schools were busy readying students for state exams, teachers at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology, a high-poverty school in Alexandria, were poring over data to determine which students would probably not do well on the tests. But according to a school district investigation, the effort wasn’t aimed at giving those students extra help.  Instead, Principal Brandon Davis allegedly told teachers this spring to call the parents of students who appeared on the brink of failing the exams to inform them of their right to opt out of the tests, according to the investigation.  Three dozen parents decided to pull their children from the state Standards of Learning exams; no parents at the school had done so the previous year. The move, which meant those students’ scores would not be considered for state accreditation purposes, probably artificially inflated the school’s overall performance and masked the fact that some students were not performing up to standards.  It also means the data used to evaluate the school is potentially flawed and presents evidence that a new Virginia law allowing students to opt out of tests without it affecting a school’s rating could compromise the ability to assess schools. The findings of the report, which the Virginia Department of Education released to The Washington Post on Thursday, come a week before the state publishes its accreditation ratings. The state Department of Education reported that there has been a rise in the number of opt-outs as a result of the new Virginia law.