Two City, Four Other Southwest Virginia Schools Earn Federal Designations Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

Two City, Four Other Southwest Virginia Schools Earn Federal Designations Under the Every Student Succeeds Act

Two schools from Bristol and four other schools in Southwest Virginia are among 247 schools across the Commonwealth that have been federally identified as requiring support, according to the regulations under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). These schools have been targeted for assistance mainly because of the learning losses they suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, as declared by the Virginia Department of Education.

The federal identification of an increased number of schools is attributed to the Virginia Board of Education’s prerequisite set in September 2022 aimed at closing achievement gaps notably affecting at-risk students. These novel requirements are an integral part of Virginia’s federal accountability regulation under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Variances between State and Federal Accreditation Systems

Bristol Virginia Middle School and Stonewall Jackson Elementary School were identified for requiring “additional targeted support and improvement.” Bristol Virginia Middle School is due to receive over $141,000 to help provide improved and explicit strategy instruction in reading and math for students with disabilities.

The Assistant Superintendent of Bristol Schools, Gary Ritchie, expounded the scenario citing that, “We are dealing with two accreditation systems – state and federal. They do not agree. The state plan allows for growth and a few other factors whereas the federal system does not include growth. The target goals are different in both systems as well.”

He further added that, “VMS has been in federal improvement for a few years now. Two years ago, they applied for school improvement federal funds to target reading. This year, Stonewall Jackson was identified in a couple of areas. Stonewall Jackson met the state accreditation benchmarks but missed the target measures for federal.”

Other Virginia Schools Also Cited

Other Southwest Virginia schools that were mentioned include Council Elementary/Middle and Hurley Elementary/Middle in Buchanan County. Both schools were singled out for targeted support and improvement for white students. Additionally, Riverview Elementary/Middle was identified for requiring further support for white students and students with disabilities. Oak Point Elementary in Smyth County was another Virginia school found needing targeted support and improvement for white students.

Aiming to Improve Learning Conditions

Drawing attention to the recently announced identification of federally targeted schools, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lisa Coons, commented in an official statement, “Today’s announcement reinforces what the State Board of Education told Virginians in 2022 – our children suffered significant learning loss that began before the pandemic but was exacerbated from extended school closures, and masked by lowered expectations defined in Virginia’s federal accountability and state accreditation frameworks.”

Furthermore, Coons shed light on the efforts taken by the state’s education board citing, “We have worked closely with school divisions to develop plans to reverse these trends and today’s announcement shows the continued importance of the steps we have taken to help our students catch up and get ahead. We’re also focused on making sure that all our parents, teachers, and students can rise to the challenge of higher expectations, greater transparency, and more focused instruction.”

The Virginia Board of Education now has the task of ensuring state accreditation ratings plainly and correctly communicate the performance of each school. This is anticipated to provide a precise representation of school performances based on federal and state criteria and eliminate confusing contradictions between the two.