Exemplar Awards
Exemplar Performance Awards
Schools are identified for exemplar performance under the Board of Education’s authority prescribed in the Regulations Establishing the Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia (8VAC20-132-290) which states:
Recognitions and rewards for school and division accountability.
Schools and divisions shall be recognized by the board in accordance with guidelines the board shall establish for the Exemplar School Recognition Program to recognize (i) schools or school divisions that exceed board-established requirements or show continuous improvement on academic and school quality indicators and (ii) schools, school divisions, and school boards that implement effective, innovative practices. Such recognition may include:
- Public announcements recognizing individual schools and divisions;
- Tangible rewards;
- Waivers of certain board regulations;
- Exemptions from certain reporting requirements; or
- Other commendations deemed appropriate to recognize high achievement.
In addition to board recognition, local school boards shall adopt policies to recognize individual schools through public announcements, media releases, and participation in community activities when setting policy relating to schools and budget development, as well as other appropriate recognition.
Highest Achievement Award
For the 2024-2025 award year, 92 schools met the criteria for the Highest Achievement Award, as listed in the Exemplar Performance Awards Program. Schools identified for this recognition must meet all of these criteria using 2023-2024 assessment year data:
- The school must be Accredited (includes triennial waivers).
- The school meets state benchmark in reading, math and science (75 percent for reading and 70 percent for math and science) based on the current year pass rate on state assessments (not including growth or English Learner progress);
- All student groups within the school meet state benchmarks in reading and math (75 percent for reading and 70 percent for math) based on the current year pass rate on state assessments (not including growth or English Learner progress), and
- For schools with two student groups, there is no more than five percentage points between the lowest performing group and all other students in the school; or
- For schools with three or more student groups, there is no more than ten percentage points between the lowest performing group and all other students in the school.
- School demonstrates a current year chronic absenteeism rate of 15 percent or lower.
For schools with a graduating class, two additional criteria apply:
- School demonstrates a current year Graduation and Completion Index of 88 points or higher; and
- School demonstrates a current year dropout rate of six percent or lower.
Continuous Improvement Award
For the 2024-2025 school year, 49 schools are being recognized for the Continuous Improvement Award, as listed in the Exemplar Performance Awards Program. To receive this recognition the school can be Accredited or Accredited with Conditions and must meet at least one of the following criteria:
The school demonstrates an increase--
- in the combined rate for math, reading and science for each of the past three years (2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024), with a total increase across the three years of ten points or more;
- in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for each of the past three years (2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024), with a total increase across the three years of ten points or more; or
- in the Graduation and Completion Index (GCI) for each of the past three years (2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024), with a total increase across the three years of four percent or more; and the school demonstrates a decrease in the dropout rate for each of the past three years (2021-2022, 2022-2023, 2023-2024), with the total reduction across three years of 15 percent or more of the first year’s dropout rate.
Note: The Continuous Improvement Award criteria was amended for 2024-2025 to remove chronic absenteeism criteria since only two years of chronic absenteeism data was available (2022-2023 and 2023-2024).