RICHMOND, Va. -- The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released its annual accreditation data on Tuesday.
VDOE revamped its accreditation categories this year in order to acknowledge schools that made significant gains. The categories include a range of new ratings, including: partially accredited: Improving (schools making progress toward meeting SOL criteria, as defined by state guidelines).
- Partially accredited: Warned (Schools which may be seeing higher scores, but not meeting enough state guidelines to be designated as improving).
- Accreditation denied.
Schools’ accreditation ratings are based primarily on SOL exam pass rates. In recent years, Virginia’s SOL exams have become more difficult, as have the state targets for getting a passing score. With these standards, the number of Virginia schools designated “Accredited with Warning” jumped from 395 to more than 500 last year.
On a successful note, Henrico, Richmond, and Chesterfield each had an increase in schools which achieved accreditation status. All districts had partially accredited schools, with the exception of Hanover and Goochland.
Henrico and Richmond both had schools fail to gain status for the second straight year. Both districts had a similar count of partially accredited schools; Henrico with 20 and Richmond with 17.
"It's very frustrating when you have a child that not on the level they should be on," said Tiffany Hubbard, whose daughter attends Wilder Middle in Henrico.
Wilder Middle was denied accreditation by the state for the second straight year, joining Richmond Alternative School, Amelia Street Special Education School, and Peabody Middle in Petersburg as the four schools in central Virginia which failed to gain accreditation. Peabody Middle has been on the list for 10 straight years.
While Henrico spokesman Andy Jenks called the news "disappointing," he said it's important to note Wilder is closer to accreditation today than it was a year ago.
"They are making gains, they are showing improvement in the right direction," Jenks said.
The below map shows the majority of partially accredited schools are in Eastern Henrico. It has long been a topic of discussion that the schools in East Henrico statistically don’t perform as well as their West Henrico counterparts.
Jenks said that the county remains committed to the course of action publicly discussed last year to help schools reach full accreditation; provide additional funding, review data, provide instructional coach training, staff development initiatives, school by school training and provide additional leadership support.
In Chesterfield, every school received a form of accreditation but five received warnings including Ettrick elementary, Falling Creek Middle, Harrowgate, Salem Church Elementary, and Salem Church Middle.
"Chesterfield County Public Schools will allocate additional support to schools that are not fully accredited,” said spokesman Shawn Smith. “Reading coaches and math coaches will be assigned as needed."
Richmond is awaiting the results of seven schools, whose rankings have been listed as “to be determined.”
"Despite the challenges of limited resources and aging facilities, our students and staff continue to demonstrate an unwavering commitment to academic excellence,” said Richmond Superintendent Dana Bedden.
Hanover was one of the largest counties where every school was fully accredited.
"This is outstanding news,” said Dr. Robert F. “Rick” Richardson, Jr., interim superintendent. “It is a direct reflection of the hard work put forth by our excellent students and staff every day, and we applaud their efforts.”
Quick glance at school accreditation in Richmond City and surrounding counties
CHESTERFIELD
Highlights: No schools within Chesterfield County Public Schools were denied accreditation, though some were only partially accredited.
Ettrick Elementary, Harrowgate Elementary, Salem Elementary, Falling Creek Middle and Salem Middle were designated as partially accredited: warned school.
Three schools identified as partially accredited while improving school pass rates. Bird High, Falling Creek Elementary and Marguerite Christian Elementary made acceptable progress toward full accreditation. Bird High met four of five benchmarks and increased scores in math. Falling Creek Elementary met three of four benchmarks and increased scores in science. Marguerite Christian Elementary met three of four benchmarks and increased scores in English.
Student SOL pass rates increased in science, history and writing and put Chesterfield students ahead of state averages once again.
In addition to the 5 percentage-point gains in reading and mathematics, student achievement increased in history and social studies (to 88 percent from 84), science (to 84 percent from 81) and writing (to 79 percent from 77).
GOOCHLAND
Highlight: All schools achieved full accreditation.
HANOVER
Highlights: All schools achieved full accreditation.
Students exceeded all of the Standards of Learning (SOL) benchmarks set by the VDOE in English, math, history, and science, as well as exceeded the state average on all 29 SOL tests.
One of the most significant gains was at Patrick Henry High School where an 11 point gain in mathematics was achieved over the previous school year.
HENRICO
Highlights: Forty-five schools are now fully accredited, up from 39 in 2014.
Baker, Carver, Harvie, Longdale and Seven Pines elementary schools all regained full accreditation, as did Varina High School.
Dumbarton and Adams Elementary schools came close to full accreditation, meeting state SOL targets in math, science and social studies and earning 70 of a needed 75 percentage points in language arts.
Douglas Wilder Middle School was denied accreditation. The status of Fairfield Middle School has not yet been officially determined.
RICHMOND
Highlights: Almost 38 percent of Richmond City schools earned full accreditation, and that is a 54 percent increase in the district. Seventeen schools were partially accredited.
7 of 8 (87 percent) of high schools met the state’s standards for full accreditation; up from 37 percent last year
28 of 45 schools posted gains in English; 9 schools demonstrated double digit gains
33 of 45 schools posted gains in mathematics; 13 schools demonstrated double digit gains
27 of 45 schools posted gains in history; 7 schools demonstrated double digit gains
26 of 45 schools posted gains in science; 7 schools demonstrated double digit gains
The percentage of warned schools decreased from 75.6 percent in 2014-15 to 57.8 percent this year
Six schools shrugged free of their warned status - Southampton Elementary, J.E.B Stuart Elementary, Franklin Military Academy, John Marshall High, George Wythe High and Huguenot High.
