Manassas schools all accredited but new VDOE labels put several schools "off track," officials say

Dr. Casado, Manassas City Public Schools' director presenting the Virginia Department of Education's newly released 2025-26 accreditation and accountability ratings, told the school board that "all schools in Manassas City Public Schools are fully, fully accredited for 25-26." He said the new performance category labels are based on 2024-25 data and a new weighted index called the School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF).

The board heard that the SPSF combines mastery, growth and readiness components and applies federal identification rules that can lower a school's category when a student subgroup is identified for targeted support. "Students must show that they know 30 to 40% more content than last year to pass the new reading and mathematics SOLs," Casado said, describing the increased rigor of the assessments used to generate the ratings.

Casado highlighted that Weems and Osborne earned "on track" category labels, while several other schools scored in the off-track range or were identified for targeted or comprehensive support. The presentation named Baldwin Intermediate and Dean Elementary as needing intensive support after targeted identifications; Mayfield was placed in the on-track range but was identified for targeted support due to subgroup performance and therefore labeled off track in the VDOE table. Round Elementary received a comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) federal designation, which does not change its state performance category under current rules.

Board members pressed for clarity on whether federal or state funding follows those federal identifications. Casado said the labels "unlock the potential for additional, funding opportunities" but emphasized that details about how federal dollars will flow and what strings are attached had not been released to the division: "How that's gonna work and what it would mean for these schools this year with this framework, they have not announced yet." He advised that some support funds historically flow through the state and that the division will learn specifics as VDOE releases guidance.

Members also asked about the new handling of English-learners (EL) data. Casado noted the state shortened the period during which recently arrived EL failing scores are removed from 11 semesters to 3 semesters; he said the state is also planning a four-year rollout of cut-score changes and that some growth-calculation methods will be modified in coming years.

Board members encouraged staff to explain the results plainly to families and emphasized that the ratings do not replace local continuous improvement work. Several members pointed out recent SOL gains at Baldwin and Hayden and urged the board to balance public communication about category labels with recognition of local progress.

The presentation concluded with Casado saying the numerical data used in these ratings are not new to the division; what is new are the framework labels and thresholds that were set before final performance data were known. The division will continue to analyze the results and pull together improvement plans and any required state-submitted documentation for schools identified for support.