by Jackie Nunnery
HEATHSVILLE—Under Virginia’s new School Performance and Support Framework, Northumberland High School (NHS) is performing at a “distinguished” level in addition to being one of the top five regional high schools.
The new system evaluates schools on two criteria—accreditation and accountability. Accreditation, be it full, conditional or denied, is based on compliance to 10 standards of accreditation and is separate from student achievement. The standards include fair promotion and retention policies, teaching to the Standards of Learning, having qualified staff in teaching and leadership positions, notifying parents of student requirements, and the regular update of a long-range comprehensive plan.
Accountability tracks student achievement beyond test scores. Schools are graded using a weighted framework based on mastery, growth, readiness and graduation. The weights and criteria change from elementary to middle and high school. Based on these weights, schools receive a score that falls into one of four performance categories—distinguished, 90-100 points; on track, 80-89; off track, 65-79; or needs intensive support, below 65.
NHS
High school scores are based 50% on mastery; 35% on readiness, including chronic absenteeism, six-year graduation rate and enrollment/employment/enlistment (3E); and 15% on four-year graduation rate. NHS, grades 9-12, scored 43.9 out of 44.45 points in mastery, 15.5 out of 16.67 points in graduation and 43.6 out of 38.9 points in readiness for a total of 103.1 out of 100 points. This easily qualified them for….
