Section 22.1-16.1 of the Code of Virginia requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to report annually on any human research studies conducted or authorized by the Department of Education or any public schools including the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind or any proprietary schools certified by the Board of Education. It should be noted that, in accordance with § 32.1-162.17, Board of Education regulations specifically exempt from the definition of human research studies "research or student learning outcomes assessments conducted in educational settings involving regular or special education instructional strategies, the effectiveness of or the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management methods, or the use of educational tests, whether cognitive, diagnostic, aptitude, or achievement, if the data from such tests are recorded in a manner so that subjects cannot be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects ..."

There have been no human research studies conducted or authorized by the Department of Education or the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in 2003 or 2004. I have no knowledge of any such studies conducted or authorized by any public schools in Virginia, or any proprietary schools. Please note that HB 637, passed by the 2004 General Assembly, transferred the responsibility for oversight of proprietary schools from the Department of Education to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

There is no report to be presented to the Governor and the General Assembly.