A cup of pencils sit on top of a classroom desk in Virginia (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)
Fewer schools met the state’s standards to be considered fully accredited based on 2023-24 data compared to the previous year, according to the Virginia Department of Education. A total of 84.5 % of schools in 2023-24 were fully accredited, compared to 89% in 2022-23.
On the flip side, no school was denied accreditation, leading the governor’s administration and some from the education industry to say that the existing accreditation system is a “failure” to provide the public with “accurate and actionable” insights into how well students perform academically.
Approximately 14% of the 1,824 schools are accredited with conditions.
“As soon as I came into office, I committed to reverse the systematic lowering of standards and lack of transparency in Virginia’s education system,” said Youngkin in a statement on Monday. “As students struggle to recover from pandemic learning loss, it’s more important than ever to prioritize high expectations, transparency and accountability. We must be honest with ourselves that too many students and schools are not on track for success.”
A few weeks ago, the Virginia Board of Education approved a new School Performance and Support Framework for the current school year, which aims to improve the direction of state resources. Under the new system, the board will be able to set and assist students in meeting high academic expectations while supporting learning loss recovery by ensuring the school performance framework holds schools accountable for actual performance.
Virginia Board of Education approves changes to accreditation, accountability systems
As part of the board’s action, the state’s accreditation system will be split into two: an accreditation system to assess whether schools meet all requirements laid out in state laws and regulations; and an accountability system to provide “timely and transparent information on student and school performance.”
The state is already collecting data. The plan’s full implementation will begin at the start of the next school year.
In August, Youngkin praised school divisions for improving their annual Standards of Learning tests, which measure student learning and achievement in mathematics, reading, science, writing, and history and social science. However, he acknowledged that schools have more work to do.
Data showed that the number of schools that met or exceeded the English standard increased by 77. However, the total number of schools that met the mathematics standard dropped by 25.
Over the past year, the governor and lawmakers have agreed to invest more state funding in instruction and current and future teachers. The commonwealth also measures achievement through attendance, which improved.
During the 2022-23 school year, only 647 schools met the state’s attendance indicator. The total increased to 1,509 schools in 2023-24.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.