No public middle or high school in the GazetteLeader’s Fairfax coverage area was denied accreditation by state officials or placed in a probationary status for 2023-24, but there were several problem areas identified, according to data reported by the Virginia Department of Education.
Oakton, James Madison and George C. Marshall high schools and Kilmer and Luther Jackson middle schools failed to fully satisfy at least one of the criteria used for accreditation rankings, while Langley and McLean high schools, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology and Cooper, Thoreau and Longfellow middle schools each emerged with a clean bill of health.
Accreditation is based on a number of factors – nine for high schools and six for middle schools – including overall academic achievement, attendance rates, gaps in achievement among various racial/ethnic groups, graduation rates and dropout rates. In each category, schools are graded on three “levels” – Level 1 being no problems, Level 2 being slightly below benchmarks and Level 3 being well below benchmarks.
Schools that receive a Level 3 score in any of the categories can be “accredited with conditions” by the Virginia Department of Education. Schools with multiple failings receive “accreditation denied” rankings.
Among Fairfax County’s 195 public schools, 193 were fully accredited in the updated standings in the new data. Two were accredited with conditions: Justice High School (owing to Level 3 status due to its high dropout and Level 2 status in a number other areas) and Mount Vernon High School (owing to a Level 3 ranking on college/career/civic readiness among students and Level 2 results in several other areas).
No schools in the GazetteLeader territory had any Level 3 scores. Among high schools, Oakton, Madison and Marshall received a Level 2 score owing to high absenteeism rates. At middle schools, Kilmer received a Level 2 rate for achievement gaps in mathematics, and Luther Jackson received Level 2 ratings for achievement gaps in English and in math as well as high absenteeism.
(Full data for all county schools can be found at https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/divisions/fairfax-county-public-schools.)
In parsing the results, county school officials acknowledged that improvements in the overall assessments have leveled off following an initial burst of improvement once students returned from government-mandated classroom lockdowns. But they tried to accentuate the positive.
“FCPS still made faster progress than other divisions across the commonwealth in its recovery,” officials said while citing the Northwest Evaluation Association, which predicts three to five years will be required to make up for learning loss and academic stagnation during the pandemic.
Superintendent Michelle Reid said the school system – Virginia’s largest – is taking proactive steps to move forward.
“Our new strategic plan has a laser focus on improving student achievement,” she said.
As was shown in the data released by the Virginia Department of Education, even schools that are generally doing well are facing challenges with chronic absenteeism (individual students missing more than 10 percent of class days). Fairfax school officials said they will continue outreach to students and families about the importance of being in classrooms.
