In a wise concession to flexibility, the Virginia state board of education voted unanimously last month to exempt prospective teachers with a 1100 (after 1995) from having to take the Praxis I basic skills test in reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. According to Charles Pye, spokesman for the Virginia education department, "There was a feeling on part of the board that this was not a lowering of the standards. It's a comparable bar." Virginia's cut-off scores for Praxis I are among the highest in the country, although the state's Advisory Board in Teacher Education and Licensure is planning to review those scores in the near future. We can only hope Virginia resists the temptation to lower its pass scores to the comparably shameful levels that most of the country's prospective teachers enjoy.