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Henrico officials preview Virginia's new school accountability framework, caution against direct comparisons
Summary
Henrico County School Board staff outlined Virginia's new School Performance and Support Framework, explaining new categories and component weightings and warning the new lens may move some previously accredited schools into lower categories; board members pressed for clarity on supports for diverse learners and teacher workload impacts.
Dr. Tiffany Hinton, director of assessment, research and evaluation, told the Henrico County School Board on Oct. 23 that the Virginia Department of Education's new school performance and support framework separates accountability, federal identification and accreditation to give a clearer picture of school strengths and weaknesses.
The new system assigns points across multiple components and places schools into four categories: "distinguished," "on track," "off track" and "needs intensive support." "A school that earns 90 points or above is considered distinguished," Hinton said, and she explained how component weightings differ by school level. She and other staff emphasized the framework's separation of academic performance from accreditation-related compliance.
Board members pressed staff on how the measures account for diverse learners and whether teacher evaluations or workload would be affected. "There isn't a direct impact or correlation between SOL accreditation and specific teacher evaluations," Superintendent Dr. Cashwell said, noting that teacher evaluation systems include multiple student growth measures beyond SOL scores.
Taylor Snow, who reviewed division trends, reported enrollment and subgroup shifts that shape performance data. She said elementary student membership rose 3.7% while elementary special education identification increased 21% and elementary English learner services rose 66%. Snow warned that changes such as fewer students qualifying for VAAP and a shortened window for excluding newcomer EL scores could affect ratings.
Board members also asked what supports off-track or needs-intensive schools would receive once the state designations are applied. "We have not been given any information at this time related to support frameworks," staff said, adding the division will monitor forthcoming VDOE guidance and align school quality plans accordingly.
The presentation concluded with staff offering to provide more granular, school-level data as the state releases accountability ratings and to share ongoing division data points more frequently than annual SOL reports. "We will share additional data and accountability ratings with you as they become available," staff said. The board did not take action; the division will return with ratings and school-level details when the VDOE publishes them.
