Richmond City Public Schools staff on Monday described the division’s first full year under Virginia’s new accountability framework and outlined next steps for schools flagged under federal identification and accreditation rules.

District officials said high schools generally performed well under the new model: Richmond Community High School led Region 1 with 109 index points and several high schools — including Thomas Jefferson and Armstrong — posted strong performance on graduation and English‑learner progress. Overall, the division reported five distinguished schools, nine on‑track schools, 17 off‑track and a decreased number of schools needing intensive support compared with the prior model.

At the same time, staff warned that federal identifications (CSI, TSI, ATSI) carried over from an earlier model affected some schools’ categorical designations. The superintendent and academic leaders said they believe a coding issue and legacy identifications account for anomalies — for example, Thomas Jefferson was CSI‑identified under the prior model despite high recent performance — and that roughly 10 schools could exit federal identification this year if current trends hold.

Administrators also raised an accreditation technicality: under state code, high schools must document a 'certificate of program completion' in the local program of studies. RPS officials said that omission led the state to record some high schools as conditionally accredited, and staff announced they have already submitted an appeal and will update the program of studies so the state can reevaluate those schools’ accreditation status.

Board members focused questions on how Title I funding, federal school improvement grants and school morale intersect with accountability labels. Staff cautioned that while Title I funding itself does not automatically end when a school comes out of identification, the size of federal school‑improvement pots may shrink because more schools statewide are identified, which could reduce available dollars per school.

Officials urged a focus on supports they said were already underway: monthly technical‑assistance meetings with CSI schools, cross‑departmental visits that include wellness, talent and curriculum staff, and daily formative assessments to track progress. The board asked staff to provide more school‑level data and to resubmit corrected extracts where data anomalies were identified.

The board is scheduled to consider a program‑of‑studies amendment (adding the certificate of program completion) on second read at a subsequent meeting so it can be cited in the state appeal.