Some area schools started testing yesterday or today. Most wait until next week. Some wait as late as June to administer the tests.
Testing lasts about two weeks in most instances.
Tests are administered in third grade, fifth grade, eighth grade and in high school. As the years pass, the tests take on added urgency. I think a lot of people are getting more serious about them. Virginia Department of Education officials say the department has no data on the number of students who would have failed to graduate had the requirements been in effect in previous years. School divisions throughout the Richmond area say they don't have those numbers, either.