The percentage of Virginia schools meeting accreditation requirements declined for the second year in a row, but schools in the Historic Triangle bucked the trend.
Every school in Williamsburg-James City County Schools and the York County School Division received full accreditation for 2014-2015. Two YCSD schools — Bruton High and York River Academy — had received accreditation with warning in 2013-2014.
In the second year of more rigorous Standards of Learning tests, the percentage of Virginia’s 1,827 schools rated as fully accredited dropped to 68 percent from 77 percent last year and 93 percent from 2012-2013. The number of schools accredited with warning increased to 545 from 393 last year.
For a school to be rated as fully accredited, at least 75 percent of students must pass reading and writing SOLs, and at least 70 percent must pass state assessments in mathematics, science and history. In addition, high schools must meet a benchmark figure for graduation. Before the new standards were set, the reading and writing benchmark in middle and high schools was 70 percent, and the required pass rate in third-grade science and history was 50 percent.
WJCC schools and YCSD join 20 other school districts in the state with all schools fully accredited. That number is down from 36 districts in 2013-2014.
Ten schools in six districts were denied accreditation by the state for “persistently low student achievement,” an increase of one from last year.
“The SOL tests students began taking 16 years ago established a uniform floor across the state,” state Board of Education President Christina N. Braunlich said in a news release. “Now the floor is being raised so all students — regardless of where they live, who they are, or their family’s income — will have a foundation for success in an increasingly competitive economy. These new tests represent higher expectations for our students and schools and meeting them will be a multiyear process.”
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