The Virginia Board of Education voted to approve revised guidelines for Local Alternative Assessments (LAAs) at its September 24, 2025 meeting, following a directive from the 2025 General Assembly through HB 1763 and SB 1247. The new framework introduces a distinction between mandatory and permissive assessments in subjects where no Standards of Learning test exists.
Revised structure and requirements
Under the revised guidelines, mandatory LAAs apply to third-grade science and third-grade history and social science. Permissive assessments may be used for Virginia Studies, Civics and Economics, Earth Science, and Chemistry. All LAAs must include scoring criteria aligned with the Standards of Learning content standards, and results must be reported to the school board, parents, and the Virginia Department of Education. Divisions with existing local assessment systems may continue using them if they meet the new criteria, including content alignment and established scoring rubrics. The guidelines specify that mandatory LAAs must use performance-based assessments or other methods approved by the department, while permissive LAAs give divisions greater latitude in format, such as project-based assessments, portfolios, or traditional tests.
From a uniform to a tiered system
Before this revision, Virginia's LAA system, in place since about 2014, required local assessments in several non-tested subjects but did not distinguish between mandatory and permissive categories. The 2025 overhaul makes some previously required subjects permissive. Several other states, including Maryland and North Carolina, use local or district-designed performance assessments in subjects without state tests, with state-level guidelines outlining content alignment and reporting requirements comparable to Virginia's new framework.
Mixed evidence on local assessment quality
Research on local performance-based assessments indicates they can provide richer evidence of student learning than standardized tests in non-tested subjects, but the quality depends heavily on rubric design, teacher training, and scoring consistency across classrooms and schools. Without strong implementation supports, local assessments may produce inconsistent results across divisions. Research on performance-based assessment systems suggests that well-implemented local assessments can support instructional improvement and provide meaningful data for accountability, but comparability across districts remains a challenge when assessment design is left to local discretion.