RECENT COMMENTS

Seventeen city schools Fully Accredited, including Fairfield Court Elementary and Franklin Military

Last year, Fairfield Court Elementary was the only Fully Accredited neighborhood school (among only 11 city-wide). The total climbs to 17 this year, and Fairfield Court ES is joined by Franklin Military Academy.

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Richmond is home to 11 of the 36 schools state-wide named as Priority schools, comprising the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools, including Martin Luther King Jr. Middle and Woodville Elementary. These schools must engage a state-approved turnaround partner to help design and implement school-reform models that meet state and federal requirements.

Richmond is home to 7 of the 73 schools state-wide named as Focus schools, comprising 10 percent of Title I schools selected on the basis of achievement gaps, including Armstrong High, Bellevue Elementary, Chimborazo Elementary, and George Mason Elementary. These schools must employ state-approved, school-improvement coaches and can retain their designation for a minimum of two years — unless they are subsequently identified as Priority schools or no longer receive federal Title I funding.

Elementary and middle schools are Fully Accredited if students achieve all of the following pass rates:

• English – 75 percent or higher
• Mathematics – 70 percent or higher
• Science – 70 percent or higher
• History – 70 percent or higher

High schools are Fully Accredited if:

• Students achieve pass rates of 75 percent or higher in English and 70 percent or higher in mathematics, science and history; and
• Attain a point value of 85 or greater based on the Graduation and Completion Index (GCI).

In addition to Fully Accredited and Accreditation Denied, there are a number of new status options this year, including:

• Partially Accredited: Approaching Benchmark-Pass Rate, Approaching Benchmark-Graduation and Completion Index (essentially very close to passing)
• Partially Accredited: Improving School-Pass Rate, Improving School-Graduation and Completion Index (essentially made enough of an improvement from last year)
• Partially Accredited: Warned School-Pass Rate, Warned School-Graduation and Completion Index (essentially did not make the score, was not close, did not improve, but hasn’t been bad long enough to lose accreditation)
• Partially Accredited-Reconstituted School (did not meet the requirements for full accreditation for four consecutive years and has been reconstituted, and has not made it to one of the other categories yet)