Marion Elementary, Northwood High, Rich Valley Elementary, and Saltville Elementary were recognized by the Virginia Board of Education for their high achievement and continued improvement as part of Virginia's Exemplar School Recognition Program.
Marion Elementary, Northwood High, and Saltville Elementary were among the 92 schools earning the Board of Education Highest Achievement Award, which is based on performance during the 2023-2024 school year. Rich Valley Elementary was one of 49 schools earning the Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award, based on performance in the 2023-2024 and prior school years.
“The Board is thrilled to recognize and celebrate the 141 schools who have earned this year’s top achievement,” said Board of Education President Grace Turner Creasey. “We applaud their commitment to excellence and high-quality education. Congratulations to all the Virginia educators, parents, and communities supporting these schools in achieving at the highest level.”
“Being recognized in the Exemplar School Recognition Program is a direct reflection of a school's commitment to high performance and increasing excellence," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. "I am proud of each of the 141 schools that have been recognized today, and I commend each school’s leadership, educators, students, and community for earning this achievement.”
2024-2025 Board of Education Highest Achievement Award
Schools recognized for Highest Achievement demonstrated high levels of success across all school quality indicators, including success in narrowing achievement gaps, as well as:
- 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 (GCI), and Dropout Rate school quality indicators.
2024-2025 Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award
Schools recognized for continuous improvement met at least one of the following criteria based on performance from school years 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024.
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;
- 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; or
- in the GCI for each of the past three years, 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 with the total reduction across three years of fifteen percent or more of the first year’s dropout rate.