The Virginian-Pilot
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More Norfolk schools failed to meet state accreditation targets than any other division this year, ranking it among the worst performing school systems in Virginia.
A total of 16 South Hampton Roads schools, including 10 in Norfolk, were denied full accreditation, according to data released Thursday by the State Department of Education.
Last year, four local schools - three in Norfolk and one in Portsmouth - failed to meet state Standards of Learning benchmarks and secure full accreditation.
The surge in underperforming schools was spurred in part by a new requirement that incorporates graduation and dropout statistics into high schools' accreditation standards.
The nine local high schools that weren't fully accredited met every standard except the graduation index.
Every Chesapeake school made the grade - the only local division to do so.
Failing to earn full accreditation can hurt a division's reputation but rarely results in more than bad publicity. Schools that fall short of full accreditation in consecutive years can be required to come up with an improvement plan and notify parents of changes, but the state cannot pull funding or force schools to close.
In Norfolk, about one in five schools missed full accreditation. Nine divisions statewide, all smaller than Norfolk, saw a higher percentage of schools fail to meet the benchmarks.
In light of the results, Norfolk School Board Chairman Kirk Houston on Thursday called for a thorough review of all division practices.
"From approaches, to instruction, to curriculum, professional development and accountability, we have to look at it all," Houston said. "Everything has to be on the table because this is an urgent matter - for me, that's a crisis."
In a meeting with principals Thursday morning, Norfolk Superintendent Richard Bentley said he took the accreditation ratings personally, according to division spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather. Bentley told the principals changes are needed.
On Wednesday, before the results were announced, Bentley stressed in an interview that without the new graduation requirement, all five of the city's high schools would have been accredited on the basis of their SOL scores.
One strategy to improve will be closely monitoring individual student performance and reacting immediately to help the student, Bentley said. He also said principals must be "bold and courageous" in applying methods used in the division's successful schools.
"I don't have a magic bullet; I don't think anyone does," he said. "It takes two, three, four years to do a complete turnaround."
Bentley said he has seen improvement at Lafayette-Winona Middle School, which missed accreditation targets for the sixth consecutive year.
The school was among four statewide that lost accreditation last year, but the division has asked for conditional accreditation because the school has made some gains.
Norfolk officials made the same request for Lindenwood Elementary, another school at risk of losing accreditation after missing state benchmarks for the fourth straight year. The State Board of Education is expected to rule on both requests next month.
In Virginia Beach, administrators were surprised to see Green Run High on the list of schools failing to make full accreditation. The school missed the graduation index benchmark of 85 by one point, according to the state data, but school leaders said their calculations showed the school meeting the target.
School officials were working with the state Thursday to review the data.
"We're doing a student-by-student check to make sure the state has the same data we have," said Jared Cotton, the division's assistant superintendent for accountability. The review could take days, he said.
Virginia Beach's Bayside Middle also did not meet full state targets and was accredited with warning.
Portsmouth and Suffolk each had two high schools fall short of accreditation.
Statewide, 86 percent of high schools met full accreditation standards, down from 99 percent a year ago.
School divisions were notified about the graduation calculation more than two years ago, education department spokesman Charles Pyle said.
Some superintendents initially resisted adding the measure to accreditation standards, but schools should be held responsible if students don't finish high school, Pyle said.
"If you don't hold schools accountable for outcomes, you're only holding schools accountable for the students who are still there." Pyle said.
Pilot writers Hattie Brown Garrow, Elisabeth Hulette and Steven G. Vegh contributed to this report.
Mike Hixenbaugh, (757) 222-5117, mike.hixenbaugh@pilotonline.com
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Definitely Hire the Best
I definitely agree the good teachers are needed to improve our schools. So when I read a comment that one school was using preferential hiring I went back to the source and read the original Pilot article. It is not true Dr. Parker indicated that diversity was important in schools and if there were two equally qualified candidates he would then consider any diversity needs on the staff. Read the article.
Good Leadership is There
I am surprised to see Granby and Maury on the list. Both have good teachers and leaders. I had children graduate from specialty programs in both schools and was impressed all the way through.
RE: don't worry...solutions are on the way
Virginia will eventually get a "waiver" from NCLB, and then they will be allowed to provide alternatives for schools that don't perform well. That will mean charter schools, which perform even worse than public schools overall. They do cost more money to run, because private companies hire administrators who are very expensive to keep. The charters go after high performing students, and leave everyone else in the dust. Better yet, there will be fewer teachers, because computer programs based on national standards will be teaching our children all they need to know in life. I really welcome the future of education; it will be taken care of by private companies, and we all know they do a great job of making our nation strong.
lol...no bias here
What do we think the bias of this person is?
Hang Your Heads
Shame, shame and more shame!!!! Maury High is on the provisionally accredited list. I hear it is because of their graduation rate.
While I appreciate retaining students who fail to make the grade, I am horrified that my alma mater made this shameful list. It is enough to make this old Commodore cry!
It is time that we put our money in the CLASSROOM and not into useless administration. Administrators deciding where tax dollars shall go is putting the "fox in charge of the henhouse"!
Instead of blaming teachers, questions should be asked of principals. What kind of support are the teachers receiving? Do teachers have the support of school administration when students act up in class?
Shame....it is a crying shame.
PLEASE READ!
The article SAYS the students met the criteria for scholastics. What they didn't do was stay in and graduate! All the improvement on teaching in the world won't do any good if the students drop out.
I know. I dropped out of HS after grade 11, and joined the service. Doesn't have a THING to do with scholastic achievement. (BTW, I DID get my GED, and have done quite well, I think.)
No matter what.......
Even if Johnny is behind it makes me feel better knowing money that could have gone to education was spent on stopping a lone pizza delivery guy who was on the sex offenders database. One must always have their priorities in order. Right school Board?
Cause and Effect
Pointing at one school, teacher, committee, group or anything else may ease parents consciences but in reality it changes nothing. Education in this country has changed dramatically, partly due to technology, partly due to lifestyle, and partly due to politics. The truth is that in many ways the world is co-parenting our kids through the internet. We have opened ourselves to both the good and bad. Along with educating our children, before the internet, cell phones, and technology, monitoring what was influencing our kids was a lot easier. Even the most responsible kids need parenting and supervision both at home and school. Being involved, promoting responsibility as well as accountability would go a long way towards success.
Sounds like more
Hope and Change coming lol
This is actually Very Good news presented badly by VP
Here's the quote from the article "The nine local high schools that weren't fully accredited met every standard except the graduation index." So let me repeat the 9 high schools that weren't fully accredited MET EVERY STANDARD except the graduation index. I really don't think you can meet the graduation index and quite frankly whether kids stay in school is more indicative of bad parents and home life than anything the teachers and administrators can do. If a an adolescent doesn't see the value in at least graduating High School and drops out, we know they are setting themselves up for a very difficult life. It's a feeling of overwhelming hopelessness that causes dropouts and there's very little schools can do to change that.