For the first time since Virginia began rating schools based on student achievement in 1998, six schools have been denied accreditation because of poor results on the state-mandated Standards of Learning tests.
The school boards for those schools must submit corrective-action plans to the state within 45 days.
Four of the schools—two elementary, one middle, and one high school—are located in Petersburg, a 4,900-student district 25 miles south of Richmond, the state capital. The other two are elementary schools located in Sussex County, a 1,400-student district about 50 miles south of Richmond.
“I want to assure the communities served by those six schools that the board will bring every resource and means available to bear to raise student achievement and will insist on reform and accountability,” state school board President Mark E. Emblidge said in a statement.
A press release from the Petersburg district said that the statistics do not tell the full story of student achievement there. “These statistics also leave many success stories hidden,” the statement said.
