Isle of Wight County’s School Board voted unanimously on Sept. 19 to adopt changes to its end-of-course exam exemption policy in hopes of incentivizing middle and high school students to attend class.

The division has long allowed an end-of-course exam exemption for high school students who maintain a B-minus or higher grade by the date of the final test. The adopted changes to School Board Policy IKGA, which went before the board for a first reading on Aug. 8, add language requiring students to have five or fewer absences per semester to qualify for the exemption for the 2024-25 school year.

The policy does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences, but it allows a student with certain excused absences, such as the death of an immediate family member, hospitalization or home confinement per a doctor’s order, to appeal to the school’s principal for an exam waiver if the student has met all other criteria for an exemption.

The policy also allows a final exam exemption if a student, in lieu of a B-minus average, has taken and passed an end-of-course Standards of Learning exam, industry certification test for a career and technical education course or College Board advanced placement exam, provided the student has five or fewer absences or an attendance waiver from the principal.

The policy also expands the exemption to middle school students who take a high school-level course, provided they too maintain a B-minus or higher average and are absent five or fewer days per semester.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bipartisan legislation last year allocating an additional $418 million to Virginia school divisions, from which Isle of Wight received a $1.8 million share, tied to Youngkin’s “ALL In” plan – an acronym for attendance, literacy and learning that aims to combat chronic absenteeism and boost scores on Virginia’s Standards of Learning exams. Youngkin announced the plan in 2023 after scores from the 2022-23 school year showed schools statewide were still below their pre-pandemic SOL pass rates.

Five of Isle of Wight’s nine public schools, as of the end of the 2023-24 school year, were performing at or above the pass rates the division saw in 2018-19.

The state defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of the school year. IWCS has set a goal of no more than 15% of students at each school falling into that category.

Smithfield Middle School, at 23%, and Windsor High School, at 20%, were above the threshold as of the end of the 2023-24 school year according to data school officials shared with the School Board on Sept. 19. Carrollton Elementary was also above the threshold, at 16%, but as an elementary school isn’t impacted by the revised final exam policy.