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Virginia proposes five‑level VQB5 rating system, expands improvement planning requirements
Summary
VDOE recommended replacing the three‑level early‑childhood VQB5 rating with five bands (100‑point buckets) and requiring improvement planning for more programs; staff said the change would give families clearer information and let coaching resources be targeted, and proposed a phased rollout to 2027.
Virginia Department of Education officials proposed on the board floor a major redesign of VQB5 — the state’s quality measurement and improvement system for publicly funded birth‑to‑five programs — shifting from three public rating levels to five and expanding which programs must complete formal improvement planning.
Chris Myers, VDOE lead for VQB5, told the board the current three‑category system groups too many sites together and obscures meaningful differences in classroom interactions. “We are proposing starting next year to move to a five‑level rating system,” he said, naming the new bands ranging from “Need Support” to “Distinguished.” The change groups programs into 100‑point bands (100–399; 400–499; 500–599; 600–699; 700–800) so the publicly posted scores better reflect observable differences in teacher–child interactions measured by the CLASS observation tool.
The department also proposed that programs scoring 400–499 be required to submit targeted improvement plans and participate in coaching or approved improvement‑partner supports, while programs below that would continue to receive intensive coaching. VDOE modeled how the new cut points would shift many programs into higher or different categories and laid out a phased timeline: collect data in 2026–27, preview the new scale in summer 2027, and publish profiles under the five‑level scale in fall 2027.
Why it matters: VDOE said the new bands make ratings more useful to parents and allow the agency and regional partners to target supports more precisely. Board members asked about coaching capacity and whether VDOE’s existing vendors could scale to meet a larger improvement‑planning population; VDOE said it is analyzing capacity and will prioritize resources.
Next steps: Staff will hold stakeholder sessions this spring and return in June with details about coaching capacity and the phased implementation timeline. The board took the proposal for first review.
