WILLIAMSBURG — How Williamsburg-James City County Schools performance would stack up in regard to new academic standards being rolled out in Virginia was discussed during a joint meeting Friday between the WJCC School Board, Williamsburg City Council and the James City County Board of Supervisors.
During its March 4 board meeting, the impact of new accountability standards championed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin were presented to members of the school board, a change from current school accreditation system to one that would place schools in one of four categories: distinguished, on track, off track, or needing intensive support.
That presentation revealed that while most of the WJCC schools would be on track, and one would be labeled as distinguished, three schools are projected to fall short in meeting the on-track standard — standards that are slated to be rolled out starting in April. However, it was noted that estimation was performed with the test scores taken in the spring of 2024, and more accurate scores would be available after tests are taken this spring.
During the joint meeting, the school board explained to the other two governing bodies that the “off-track” designation would be closely equivalent to “accredited with restriction” using the old system’s terminology.
Based on how the new system is calculated, it was also noted that two of the three schools that are currently considered “off track” were only one point away from meeting the “on track” standard.
Senate Bill 979 sought to delay the rollout of the new standards by one year amid concerns about the overhaul’s clarity and impact, however, the bill failed in the Senate, as reported by the Virginia Mercury.
“One of the things we will need to do as we get into the fall of the school year, when the SOL test results are available to school divisions through the course of the summer and into August and September, as we talk with our community about what those results mean, (is) to provide context around the shifts in the framework,” said Daniel Keeves, acting superintendent for WJCC Schools.
“Even if a school falls into the off-track category, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t terrific things going on at that school.We’ll need to support one another if we find ourselves in that position,” Keever said later during the meeting, a sentiment with which Williamsburg Mayor Douglas Pons agreed.
Since 1998, Virginia has used Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments to gauge proficiency in areas like reading and math. However, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a widely recognized national organization, has often been used to assess smaller student groups, such as fourth and eighth graders. Currently, a gap can be found between SOL and the NAEP, which prompted the Virginia to create new guidelines for public school education.
Between 2017 and 2022, Virginia’s fourth-grade reading and math results showed a 40-percentage-point gap between the state’s SOL and NAEP assessments, according to the Virginia Mercury.
During the presentation, WJCC Schools noted that last year, 88% of Virginia schools were considered accredited under the previous model. Under the new model, only 65% of those schools would be in the top two categories, “Distinguished” and “On Track.”
“I’m baffled that we’re moving to a system that suggests that our school systems across the commonwealth are not as good as they were when we had recognition that Virginia schools were doing a good job relative to many other states,” said Board of Supervisors member John McGlennon. “Now we’re going to have a system that puts in place the suggestion that we’re not doing nearly as well.”
Keever could not cite any examples similar systems in other states, however, school board member Randy Rifle indicated that Virginia was unique in this regard.
The school board said it believes that with its Elevate ’28 program, it shouldn’t have any problem meeting the new standards. Mid-year assessments shared during the presentation showed improvements from the previous school year across the board.
Keever said that currently, nothing has been promised or said that standards would not change again under a new administration, however, he hope that the new standards will remain the framework moving forward to avoid “whiplash phonoemena.”
The WJCC school board will meet next on March 18 at 6:30 p.m. The Board of Supervisors will meet on April 8 for its regular meeting at 5 p.m., and City Council will meet April 10 at 2 p.m. Fore more information, please visit the official websites.
