WJCC reports midyear academic gains as Virginia shifts to new accountability framework

Williamsburg, Va. — Williamsburg-James City County Schools presented a midyear academic update to the joint meeting of the school board, county board of supervisors and city council, reporting diagnostic gains across grade levels while explaining how the Virginia Department of Education’s new accountability framework will change school ratings.

The update, presented by Acting Superintendent Dr. Cooper and Assistant Superintendents Sean Walker (elementary) and Kathy Worley (secondary), covered division demographics, an overview of the VDOE framework, school improvement planning aligned to the Elevate to ’28 strategic plan, and midyear results from state and locally administered assessments.

The new Virginia School Performance and Support Framework replaces the previous accreditation labels and uses a 100-point weighted model that emphasizes mastery, growth and readiness. Walker said mastery carries the largest share of the score (about 65% at the elementary level, 60% at middle and 50% at high school), readiness includes chronic absenteeism and high schools receive additional weight for graduation and a “ready for life” indicator tied to enrollment, employment or enlistment (the “3 E” metric). The state also lowered the minimum student-reporting group from 30 to 15 students, and replaced…