School improvement & Reform
VDOE helps historically low-performing schools and school divisions implement effective instructional strategies and best practices to increase student achievement. The department’s nationally-recognized comprehensive support system, known as the Partnership for Achieving Successful Schools (PASS), focuses on building division-level capacity to support schools in need of interventions. In partnering with school divisions, VDOE ensures that each school’s unique needs are addressed through differentiated assistance and interventions.
How does VDOE identify schools that do not meet full accreditation for PASS interventions and support?
VDOE assists schools in which students are achieving at levels below federal and state accountability standards. Under the state Board of Education’s Standards of Accreditation (SOA), schools not meeting full accreditation are schools that are rated as follows:
- Partially Accredited: Approaching Benchmark – Pass Rate,
- Partially Accredited: Approaching Benchmark – Graduation and Completion Index,
- Partially Accredited: Improving School – Pass Rate,
- Partially Accredited: Improving School – Graduation and Completion Index,
- Partially Accredited: Warned School – Pass Rate,
- Partially Accredited: Warned School – Graduation and Completion Index, and
- Partially Accredited – Reconstituted School,
- Accreditation Denied
Also see Academic Reviews
VDOE also assists schools not meeting the annual measurable objectives of Virginia’s federal No Child Left Behind flexibility waiver. These schools are as follows:
- Priority schools – identified based on overall student performance in reading and mathematics, including graduation rates in the case of high schools. Five percent of Virginia’s Title I schools (36) are identified as priority schools.
- Focus schools – identified based on the reading and mathematics performance of students in three “proficiency gap groups” comprising students who historically have had difficulty meeting the state’s achievement standards. Ten percent of Virginia’s Title I schools (72) are identified as focus schools.
- Proficiency Gap Group 1 – Students with disabilities, English language learners and economically disadvantaged students, regardless of race and ethnicity
- Proficiency Gap Group 2 – African-American students, not of Hispanic origin, including those also counted in Proficiency Gap Group 1
- Proficiency Gap Group 3 – Hispanic students, of one or more races, including those also counted in Proficiency Gap Group 1
Documentation of Federal Waiver Requirements for Teacher Evaluation and Principal Evaluation