The "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" examines what is arguably the single most powerful authority over the teaching profession: state government. This Virginia edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the first of what will be an annual look at the status of state policies impacting the teaching profession. It is hoped that this report will help focus attention on areas where state policymakers could make improvements to benefit both students and teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into six areas that include a total of 27 goals. Broadly, these goals examine the impact of state policy on the preparation, certification, licensure, compensation and effectiveness of teachers across the elementary, secondary and special education spectra. Virginia's progress toward meeting these goals is summarized. Overall, Virginia has done a good job in meeting several goals, but there is significant room for improvement in some areas. Virginia completely missed three goals, met a small portion of nine, partially met four, nearly met seven and fully met four--including one best practice designation. Virginia performed better than most states in Area 2, "Teacher Licensure." The state has the most work to do in Area 3, "Teacher Evaluation and Compensation," and Area 6, "Preparation of Special Education Teachers." Virginia earns a best practice designation for having one of the strongest policies for teacher preparation in reading instruction in the country. The state requires all teacher candidates to complete reading coursework, and elementary teachers are also required to pass a test that addresses scientifically based reading instruction. Virginia should do more to ensure that special education teachers receive subject-matter preparation relevant to elementary and secondary classrooms. Virginia should also consider making teacher effectiveness the preponderant criterion of any teacher evaluation. The body of the report provides a more detailed breakdown of the state's strengths and weaknesses in each area. Detailed rationale and "Food for Thought" for each area and corresponding goal are appended. (Contains 72 figures.) [Additional funding for this first edition of the "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" was provided by the Achelis Foundation, Bodman Foundation, Daniels Fund, Fisher Family Foundation, Gleason Foundation, and The Teaching Commission. This state report is part of NCTQ's State Teacher Policy Yearbook series. For the national summary, see ED506661.]