by Dick Hall-Sizemore
As explained by Todd Truitt in his well-argued article regarding the new school accountability system developed by the Virginia Dept. of Education, the state has posted a listing of how each school would currently score under that system if it were in effect today. (It does not go into effect until next school year.) An analysis of the scores yields fascinating results.
Before going into the details, a summary of the criteria used would be useful. High schools are rated in four areas: mastery, progress, readiness, and graduation. Following is a summary of the components of each category:
• Mastery (50 percent)—various test scores and progress of English learners;
• Readiness (35 percent)—number of students taking college prep courses, weighted based on grades earned in those courses; number of students earning industry credentials in high-demand areas; scores on exams for armed forces enlistment. Chronic absenteeism is another component;
• Graduation (15 percent)—percentage of students in four years.
It is no surprise that the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County obtained the highest rating with an “overall framework score” (the sum of the mastery, readiness, and graduation index scores) of 105.1. The remaining schools in the top ten were surprising:
• Tunstall High, Pittsylvania County–102
• John S. Battle High, Washington County–100.2
• Western Albemarle High, Albemarle County–100.1
• Richmond Community High, Richmond city–100.1
• Franklin Military Academy, Richmond City–99.9
• Grundy High, Buchanan County–99.1
• James River High, Botetourt County—98.0
• Hanover High, Hanover County—97.4
• Eastside High, Wise County—96.2
• Rural Retreat High, Wythe County—96.2
To state the obvious, with the exception of the TJ School for Science and Technology, none of the top ten-scoring high schools were in Northern Virginia. Furthermore, the much-criticized Richmond public school system had two schools in the top ten, while the neighboring counties of Henrico and Chesterfield had none.
The picture was entirely different for elementary schools. The accountability system for them was similar to that used for high schools, but obviously the details were different. The elementary school receiving the highest score was Virginia L. Murray Elementary in Albemarle County. All but one of the remaining nine schools in the top ten were in Northern Virginia. In fact, all but seven elementary schools of the 25 highest-scoring schools were in Northern Virginia.
Any comparison of schools needs to go beyond the overall scores. For example, the two Richmond high schools in the “top ten” are small, specialized, and selective. Richmond Community, with an enrollment of 250, has a college prep curriculum. Franklin Military Academy enrolls about 300 students in grades 6-12. The size of schools also matters. Tunstall High in Pittsylvania County has an enrollment of about 800 students, whereas Marshall High School in Fairfax County has about 2,200 students. Nevertheless, a school’s score on this index is an indication of how well it is accomplishing its function of providing a good education for its students.
The scores for all the schools in the state can be found here.
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