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Editor’s note: this is the first in a two-part breakdown of the Virginia school accreditation data, which was released this week. Today we look at Prince Edward. Next edition, we’ll focus more on Buckingham and Cumberland. 

There was good news and bad to take from this week’s news in Prince Edward County. On Monday, the state released accreditation data for all schools. 

In Prince Edward, only the elementary school was fully accredited with no conditions. The high school, and especially the middle school, continues to struggle. Cumberland fared much better, with all but the middle school fully accredited, as students there struggled with science. Buckingham, meanwhile, did not have any schools this year fully accredited without conditions. 

The Virginia Department of Education decides if an individual school is accredited, or meets state standards, based on six categories. The state looks at a school’s English pass rate, English achievement gaps, math pass rate, math achievement gaps, science pass rate and if there is chronic absenteeism. If a school doesn’t meet state standards for multiple years, then the Department of Education steps in to help determine what’s needed to address the issues. And there are issues in several of our districts. 

Looking at two Prince Edward schools

We start with Prince Edward, focusing first on the success. By that we’re referring to Prince Edward Elementary, where Principal Teresa Vance and her staff continue to exceed state standards and averages. That’s true in English and Math, where the school’s respective pass rates of 81% and 80% both rate higher than the state standard. The same is true when you break down the data across the board, as almost every major group of students in the school is doing better than the state standard, with the exception of students with disabilities. Only 61% of disabled students at the school passed their English exam, with only 49% passing math. As the school addresses that, the staff have also worked to cut down on chronic absences. Last year, 29% of students at the elementary school were chronically absent. This time, that’s dropped down to 20%. 

But unfortunately, that’s where the positives stop in Prince Edward. At the middle school, English, Math and Science pass rates are all below the state standard. For example, only 50% of Prince Edward Middle School students passed the science exam. The state standard is 70%. The other two were a bit closer. A total of 70% passed reading, compared to the standard of 75%. Sixty-seven percent passed math, compared to the state standard of 70%. 

What does the high school data say?

Finally at Prince Edward High, the school struggled with chronic absences,  issues with the dropout rate, and problems in both math and science. Science was especially rough, as only 55% of students passed, compared to the state standard of 70%. The math tests just barely missed, with 69% passing compared to the state standard of 70%. English was the one shining spot for the school, with 87% passing, compared to a state standard of 75%.

Prince Edward High also continues to struggle with chronic absences, as 25% of students were considered chronically absent. Last year, that number was 30% so there was some improvement, just not much. The same thing can be said for the dropout rate, which improved to just 9%, down from 14% last year. But again, just not enough for the state standard.