School Accreditation

The Regulations establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia provide a comprehensive view of school quality while encouraging continuous improvement for all schools, and places an emphasis on closing achievement gaps. The accreditation models uses multiple measures based on student outcomes.

School Quality Indicators

School accreditation ratings are based on student performance across nine school quality indicators:

College, Career and Civic Readiness Index (CCCRI)

CCCRI Frequently Asked Questions

Achievement Gap Indicators

The Achievement Gap indicators for English and mathematics each have a performance rate and corresponding performance level reported for the following groups:

• Asian students
• Black students
• Hispanic students
• Multiple Races
• White students
• Economically disadvantaged students
• English Learners
• Students with disabilities (excludes 504 students)

There are a set of rules applied that use the performance levels for each group to determine the overall performance level for each achievement gap indicator.

Performance Levels

Performance on each school quality indicator falls into three levels:

• Level One-At or Above Standard: Performance meets or exceeds the state standard by using the best of the current or cumulative three-year rate; OR current year rate is in the Level Two range and performance demonstrates adequate improvement from the previous year.
• Level Two-Near Standard: Performance meets a specified range using the best of the current or cumulative three-year rate; OR current year rate is in the Level Three range and performance demonstrates adequate improvement from the previous year.
• Level Three-Below Standard: Performance meets a specified range using the best of the current or cumulative three-year rate; OR performance has stayed at a Level Two or Level Three rating through four consecutive years (Level Three-4 YRS rating).

Demonstration of Adequate Improvement

• Demonstrating adequate improvement is accomplished by either reducing a rate by at least 10 percent from the previous year (designated as R10) or increasing the Graduation and Completion Index by at least 2.5 percent (designated as I2) from the previous year.
• R10 is used in all Academic Achievement and Achievement Gap indicators, as well as Chronic Absenteeism, and Dropout Rate.  

Level Three - 4 YRS Performance Rating

• A school quality indicator with a status of Level Two or Level Three through four consecutive years will be designated in the fifth year as Level Three – Below Standard (noted as Level Three – 4 YRS) if the fifth year’s performance remains at Level Two or Level Three.
• For the Achievement Gap-Mathematics and Achievement Gap-English indicators, the Level Three - 4 YRS designation applies to the student groups within the indicator, not to the overall Achievement Gap level designation.

Achievement Rates Used in Accreditation to Determine Performance Level

• For students in grades 3 through 8, both the Academic Achievement-English and Achievement Gap-English indicators are measured using a combined rate that includes students who (1) passed the reading and/or writing state assessments, (2) failed the reading state assessment but showed growth, or (3) failed the reading state assessment and did not show growth but showed progress towards proficiency in English as an English Learner (EL) as measured by the English language proficiency assessment (ACCESS for ELLS 2.0).
•  For students taking the EOC English assessments, the Academic Achievement-English indicator is measured using a combined rate that includes students who (1) passed EOC Reading, or failed the EOC Reading assessment but showed progress towards English proficiency as an EL and/or (2) passed EOC Writing.
•  Both Academic Achievement-Mathematics and Achievement Gap-Mathematics is measured using a combined rate in elementary and middle school (grades 3 through 8), and a pass rate in high school (grades 9 through 12). The combined rate includes students who (1) pass state assessments or (2) fail state assessments but show growth.
• Academic Achievement-Science is measured using a pass rate.

School Accreditation Ratings

Schools earn one of the following accreditation ratings based on performance on school quality indicators:

• Accredited: Schools with all school quality indicators at either Level One or Level Two. In addition, schools that are in a triennial accreditation period are also Accredited.
• Accredited with Conditions: Schools with one or more school quality indicators at Level Three.

There are three additional accreditation ratings:

• Accreditation Denied: Schools that fail to adopt or fully implement required corrective actions to address Level Three school-quality indicators.
• Accreditation Withheld: Used when there is a serious testing irregularity and the validity of data cannot be determined; and
• New School: Awarded for a one-year period to a new school that comprises students who previously attended one or more existing schools.

 Sample Schools

Appeal of Accreditation Indicator

A local school board may appeal a performance level designation for a state accreditation indicator, as described in the Standards of Accreditation (SOA). 

The intent of this provision in the SOA is to provide potential relief to schools that have experienced a significant event impacting performance on an indicator. Such circumstances should be unusual, and appeals based on this section of the SOA should be rare. The appeals form can be accessed at this link.

Alternative Accreditation Plans

The Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia (SOA) allows the governing school board of special purpose schools (e.g., special education schools, alternative schools, or career and technical schools that serve as the student's school of principal enrollment) to seek approval of an Alternative Accreditation Plan from the Virginia Board of Education. Such requests should be limited to schools which have a very specific purpose and mission where there is a better method to calculate student performance on one or more school quality indicators than found in the current Virginia Accreditation system. It will be the responsibility of the division, through the application process, to clearly describe why this is the case. It is anticipated that there will be very few schools who qualify for an Alternative Accreditation Plan.  

The Alternative Accreditation application process does not apply to schools or programs where the students’ data is returned to other Virginia public schools for the purpose of accountability. The current application cycle will create plans that will be effective beginning in the 2024-2025 accreditation year using data from the 2023-2024 school year. If a school has had a previously approved alternate accreditation plan, the division will need to submit a new application for Board approval.

• Alternative Accreditation Plan Application (.docx)

State Summary Results By School for the Current and Previous Years

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