The Virginia Department of Education released the state school accreditation summary Thursday.
This marks the first year the new school accreditation standards set by the Virginia Board of Education will be used.
In 2017 the Virginia Board of Education implemented new school accreditation standards to provide a more comprehensive view of school quality while encouraging continuous improvement for all schools and placing increased emphasis on closing achievement gaps.
The VDOE reported that out of 1,821 schools in Virginia, 92 percent (1,683) were fully accredited for the 2018-2019 school year.
Seven percent (130) of schools were accredited with conditions, one was withheld accreditation, seven were new schools and none were denied accreditation.
What does it mean to be accredited?
For a school to be accredited they have to have all school quality indicators at either Level One or Level Two. In addition, high-performing schools with waivers from annual accreditation authorized by the General Assembly are rated as “Accredited.”
Schools meeting the previous standard for full state accreditation are also rated as Accredited for 2018-2019.
Schools with one more more school quality indicators at Level Three are considered accredited with conditions and schools that have failed to adopt or fully implement required corrective actions to address Level Three school-quality indicators are denied.
The performance levels are:
- LEVEL ONE: Meets or exceeds standard or sufficient improvement
- LEVEL TWO: Near standard or making sufficient improvement
- LEVEL THREE: Below standard
To learn more about the new school quality indicators, click here.
How did we do?
Hampton
All schools were fully accredited with the exception of two schools which were accredited with conditions.
Newport News
Out of 38 schools: 26 were fully accredited, leaving 12 accredited with conditions.
Norfolk
Out of 43 schools: 27 were fully accredited, leaving 16 accredited with conditions.
Virginia Beach
All schools were fully accredited.
To see a full breakdown of the 2018-2019 school accreditation report, click here.
