School improvement & Reform

VDOE assists chronically low-performing schools and school divisions to implement effective instructional strategies and best practices to increase student achievement. The Office of School Improvement has developed a nationally-recognized comprehensive support system that focuses on building division-level capacity to support schools in need of interventions

Under No Child Left Behind Act flexibility waivers granted by the US Department of Education, Virginia recognizes high-performing Title I schools as “reward” schools and supports low-performing schools including:

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
Title I and Non-Title I schools not meeting one or more federal annual measurable objective are required to develop a one-year School Improvement Plan

Under the Standards of Accreditation (SOA), low-performing is a school that is rated:

accreditation denied,
accredited with warning in one or more content areas, or
a school that is conditionally accredited.

Also see Academic Reviews

Reward Schools

News Release, September 7, 2012 – National Blue Ribbon Schools
News Release, January 17, 2013 – Title I Distinguished Schools and Divisions

Documentation of Federal Waiver Requirements for Teacher Evaluation and Principal Evaluation

Teacher Evaluation and Principal Evaluation Systems Documentation

TIP: Finding your way around the site – Use the menu to the right to navigate to the sub-topics for School Improvement & Reform, find related topics and access VDOE office and staff contact information.

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