Whitman Middle School Accredited With Conditions In 2022-2023

HYBLA VALLEY, VA — Whitman Middle School was given an accreditation with conditions in the 2022-2023 school year, and other schools in the Richmond Highway corridor are accredited by the state.

The Virginia Department of Education released public school accreditation results Thursday, showing 89 percent of public schools are fully accredited. Accreditation is based on indicators in three categories: academic achievement, achievement gaps, and student engagement and outcomes. For each indicator, schools are assigned a level. Level 1 indicates a school meets or exceeds state standard or meets/exceeds sufficient improvement. Level 2 indicates the school is near state standard or near sufficient improvement. Level 3 means the school is below the state standard.

Accredited schools have indicators at Levels 1 or 2 or a waiver. Accredited schools with conditions have one or more indicators at Level 3. Across Virginia, 1,628 of 1,830 schools are fully accredited. Schools accredited with conditions total 190, three have an alternative accreditation plan, and nine are new schools.

At Fairfax County Public Schools, Whitman Middle School and Justice High School are the only schools accredited with conditions. Three alternative schools have an alternative accreditation plan — Bryant High School, Fairfax County Adult High School and Mountain View High School.

Whitman Middle School was given accreditation with conditions. The school had a Level 3 academic achievement indicator in science, Level 1 academic achievement indicators in English and math, and level 2 achievement gap indicators in English and math. Level 3 achievement gaps were identified for students with disabilities in English and math. Black and economically disadvantaged students had Level 2 indicators in English, but all other indicators Level 1 in the achievement gap category for English and math.

According to Whitman Middle School's School Quality Profile, the school was made up of 60.5 percent economically disadvantaged students in fall 2021, and 52.8 percent of the student population are English language learners.

Fully accredited elementary schools in Fairfax County's Richmond Highway corridor were Belle View Elementary, Bucknell Elementary, Fort Belvoir Primary School, Fort Belvoir Upper School, Fort Hunt Elementary, Groveton Elementary, Hollin Meadows Elementary, Hybla Valley Elementary, Mount Eagle Elementary, Mount Vernon Woods Elementary, Riverside Elementary, Stratford Landing Elementary, Washington Mill Elementary, Waynewood Elementary, Woodlawn Elementary and Woodley Hills Elementary. Sandburg Middle School, West Potomac High School and Mount Vernon High School were also accredited.

The new accreditation system was adopted by the Virginia State Board of Education in 2017 with increased emphasis on closing achievement gaps. The 2018-2019 school year was the first under the new accreditation system.

Elementary and middle schools are graded on proficiency and growth in English, math and science; achievement gaps among student groups in English and math and absenteeism. High schools are graded on the same categories as well as graduation and completion, dropout rate, and college, career and civic readiness.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow noted in a news release there was a minimal change in accredited schools despite the impacts of learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virginia had 89 percent of schools fully accredited in 2022-2023, compared with 92 percent in 2019-2020 before the pandemic.

"These ratings call into question the effectiveness of our accreditation standards in identifying schools where students are struggling to achieve grade-level proficiency," Balow said in a statement. "The number and percentage of schools earning accreditation is almost as high as three years ago, despite significant declines in achievement on Standards of Learning tests in reading, math and science — especially among minority and economically disadvantaged students."

Across the school division, Fairfax County Public Schools had Standards of Learning pass rates above the state average. However, the pass rates were lower than those of pre-pandemic testing in 2019.

Students who fail a math or reading Standards of Learning test but show growth can contribute to their school's accreditation. According to the Virginia Department of Education, approximately 19,000 to 20,000 students failed an SOL reading test but showed improvement pre-pandemic, and that number is now up to 61,000 students. In math, more than 88,000 students failed a math SOL but showed improvement this year, compared to approximately 20,000 pre-pandemic.

"Teachers and principals are working hard, and this is reflected in the growth we are seeing, said Balow. "And in commending them for their efforts, I encourage educators in every school — regardless of accreditation rating — to look deeply into their data and chart sure paths to recovery and grade-level proficiency for all of their students."

See more accreditation information for Fairfax County Public Schools on the School Quality Profiles.

SEE ALSO: Standards Of Learning Results 2022: How Fairfax Schools Performed