Williamsburg/ James City County Schools pass SOL tests for 2012

Williamsburg/ James City County schools are fully accredited and meeting all state standards for achievement in English, mathematics, history and science – and graduation, in the case of high schools – the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) announced yesterday.

See Williamsburg test results here

In addition to Williamsburg / James City Schools, Chesapeake, Gloucester County , Isle of Wight County , Mathews County , New Kent County ,Poquoson ,West Point and York County were the other local divisions to earn full accreditation for all their schools

Elsewhere around Hampton Roads 14 of Norfolk’s schools fell short of state targets, four more than last year. Sadly, Norfolk again ranks among the lowest-performing divisions in Virginia. Of the 14 Norfolk schools that missed full accreditation, half fell short only because of math scores..

Every school in York, Poquoson, Williamsburg-James City, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Mathews and Surry earned full accreditation.

Fourteen schools in Hampton and Newport News failed to receive full accreditation for Standards of Learning pass rates for the 2011-2012 school year.

Newport News

Eight Newport News Schools missed the accreditation goals and were accredited with warning. At the elementary level, Carver, Newsome Park and Sedgefield and missed the math goals, with pass rates of 37 percent, 34 percent and 32 percent respectively. Newsome Park and Sedgefield also missed the 75 percent English pass rate, posting 68 percent and 61 percent. Horace H. Epes Elementary missed the English pass rate, posting 70 percent. Willis A. Jenkins also missed the English target, with a 73 percent pass rate. Newsome Park and Sedgefield were accredited with warning last year based on their reading test pass rates.

Mary Passage Middle School missed the math target, posting a 53 percent pass rate. Crittenden Middle School met the math mark, but missed the history goal, with a 66 percent pass rate, just shy of the 70 percent target. Denbigh High was accredited with warning with a 49 percent pass rate in math. All of the high schools met the 85-point graduation index goal.

Hampton

In Hampton six schools were accredited with warning based on last year’s SOL test results. All the high schools met the graduation index target.

Four Portsmouth schools missed full accreditation, compared with two last year. Suffolk had two schools miss the standard, as it did a year ago. Virginia Beach saw two schools not fully accredited, compared with one last year.

See all Virginia accreditation ratings for 2012-2013 for all schools are available on the VDOE website.

Ninety-six percent of Virginia’s elementary schools and 88 percent of middle schools are fully accredited for the 2012-2013 school year, based on the performance of students on Standards of Learning (SOL) and other state assessments during 2011-2012.

Accreditation, the state’s required measure of how well a school or division performs, is based largely on student achievement on the state’s English, math, science and history Standards of Learning exams. High schools also must earn 85 or more points on the state’s graduation index.

In middle and high schools, at least 70 percent of students must pass the SOL tests.

In elementary school, 75 percent of students must pass reading tests in the third, fourth and fifth grades; 70 percent in math and fifth-grade science and history; and 50 percent in third-grade science and history.

The state uses an average of three consecutive years of pass rates, called a rolling average, when calculating the accreditation pass rates. That is why many schools and divisions with pass rates of less than 70 percent on the 2011-12 SOL math tests, which were new, still hit the accreditation target pass rate.

The graduation index counts students who earn diplomas, general education development or GED certificates, or are enrolled in a fifth year of high school. In 2011-12, 86 percent of the state’s high schools were accredited, down from 99 percent the prior year. The difference was the introduction of the graduation index.

Schools or divisions that miss one or more accreditation pass rate targets are accredited with warning and must develop and implement an improvement plan. If a school misses an accreditation target for three consecutive years, the state denies its accreditation and it must work with the state board of education to improve achievement. New schools are given conditional accreditation for a year, then their SOL results are considered for full accreditation.

The state has updated division and school report cards on the Department of Education website to show the 2012-13 accreditation status.

In Virginia the percentage of fully accredited high schools rose to 90 percent, compared with 86 percent last year when the Board of Education began including a “graduation and completion index” into the accountability formula for high schools, in addition to student achievement on state tests. The graduation and completion index system awards full credit for students who earn a board-recognized diploma and partial credit for students who earn GEDs and local credentials, as well as for students who are still enrolled and expected to return for a fifth year of high school. High schools must have a graduation and completion index of at least 85 for full accreditation.