News Releases

For Immediate Release: April 25, 2024
Contact: communications@doe.virginia.gov
                    Todd.Reid@doe.virginia.gov

RICHMOND – The Virginia Board of Education today recognized 64 schools for their high achievement and continued improvement as part of its Exemplar Performance School Recognition Program. 

The Exemplar School Recognition Program and its Exemplar Performance Awards recognizes schools that exceed board-established performance requirements or show continuous improvement on academic and school quality indicators. Thirty-seven schools earned the Board of Education Highest Achievement Award, and 27 schools earned the Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award. The awards are based on performance and practices during the 2022-2023 and prior school years.

“On behalf of the Virginia Board of Education, I am thrilled to celebrate and honor the 64 schools who are being recognized for their accomplishments,” said Board of Education President Grace Turner Creasey. “Recognition in this program is one of the highest achievements a school can receive in the Commonwealth. Congratulations to the staff, students, and communities who support these remarkable schools for their success.”

“I am pleased to recognize and congratulate the 37 schools that earned the Highest Achievement Award and the 27 schools that have earned the Continuous Improvement Award,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. “When high expectations are set and our schools achieve them, they deserve to be celebrated. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and tireless efforts the educators and staff, students, families, and communities are making every single day. They should be very proud of all that they have achieved.”

2023-2024 Board of Education Highest Achievement Award

The 37 schools earning the 2023-2024 Board of Education Highest Achievement Award are:

Schools recognized for Highest Achievement demonstrated high levels of success across all school quality indicators, including success in narrowing achievement gaps. In order to earn this recognition, schools are required to: 

• Achieve Performance Level One for reading, mathematics, and science based on the student pass rate (which does not include growth measures) for the “all students” group in the school, as well as for each student group in the school.
  • In addition, schools with two student groups could have no more than a five-percentage point difference between the performance of each student group and the “all students” group; schools with three or more student groups could have no more than a ten-percentage point difference between the performance of each student group and the “all students” group.
• Achieve at Level One in the Chronic Absenteeism, Graduation and Completion Index, and Dropout Rate school quality indicators. 

2023-2024 Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award

The 27 schools earning the 2023-2024 Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award are:                                

Schools recognized for continuous improvement met at least one of the following criteria based on performance from the 2022-2023 school year data:

• The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for math, reading and science for each of the past three years with a total increase across the three years of ten points or more;
• The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for each of the past three years with a total increase across the three years of ten points or more;
• The school demonstrates an increase in the Graduation and Completion Index (GCI) for each of the past three years with a total increase across the three years of four percent or more; and school demonstrates a decrease in the dropout rate for each of the past three years with the total reduction across three years of 15 percent or more of the first year’s dropout rate.

For more information about the Board of Education Exemplar Performance Awards, visit the Virginia Department of Education website.

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