School divisions throughout Hampton Roads were celebrating and boasting Monday after several received 100% accreditation for the 2019-2020 academic year.
In all, 13 school divisions received the distinction:
- Chesapeake Public Schools
- Gloucester County Public Schools
- Hampton City Schools
- Isle of Wight County Schools
- Mathews County
- Middlesex County Public Schools
- Poquoson City Public Schools
- Southampton County Public Schools
- Suffolk Public Schools
- Sussex County Public Schools
- Virginia Beach City Public Schools
- Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools
- York County School Division
Full accreditation means that the divisions meet or exceed the Virginia Board of Education's expectations for achievement and improving student outcomes.
Among the Seven Cities, proper, last year, only Virginia Beach City Public Schools received full accreditation.
For the first time in its history, Hampton City Schools is 100% accredited.
Hampton School Division leaders celebrated the "unheard of turnaround" with banners, t-shirts, signs and even a plane Monday.
School board chair Ann Cherry credited the trust between the board and Superintendent Dr. Jeffery Smith as a major contributing factor.
“I would use a football analogy, we’ve had a great team all along," Cherry said. "Some things weren’t working well, some things were. But right now? We just won a Super Bowl.”
In 2015, only 41% of Hampton schools earned full accreditation marks.
Smith said the school division emphasized early childhood literacy, created a new curriculum and developed a student achievement data system to spark the turnaround.
Schools earn one of the following three accreditation ratings based on performance on school quality indicators, as follows:
- Accredited – Schools with 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.
- Accredited with Conditions – Schools with one or more school quality indicators at Level Three
- Accreditation Denied – Schools that fail to adopt or fully implement required corrective actions to address Level Three school-quality indicators.
Schools that meet Level One requirements meet or exceed state standards or sufficient improvement. Level Two accredited schools near state standards or sufficient improvement. Level Three schools are below state standards.
This year, 92% of Virginia schools earned an "Accredited" rating. The Virginia Department of Education says that schools are "making progress in reducing chronic absenteeism, but that declines in performance on state reading tests -- especially among black and economically disadvantaged students -- have resulted in an increase in the number of schools that will receive state assistance to address achievement gaps in English."