Gov. Bob McDonnell and state education officials recognized 447 Virginia schools for top performance on Thursday, nearly 300 fewer than received the distinction last year, as more campuses failed to meet testing benchmarks from both the federal and state governments.
In Fairfax County, 66 public schools earned 2012 Virginia Index of Performance, or VIP, awards for advanced learning and achievement, a 33 percent drop from last year’s 98 schools. As a division, Fairfax lost its 2011 status as a Board of Education Excellence Award winner.
Charles Barrett Elementary was the only public school in Alexandria to receive recognition this year, down from five schools honored last year.
Arlington County was one of the few districts that saw more honors in 2012, with 10 schools racking up awards compared with last year’s seven. Neither Alexandria nor Arlington received recognition as a district either year.
Arlington Superintendent Pat Murphy said he was excited that more individual schools qualified. “I am proud of our teachers, leadership teams and students for receiving this honor,” he said.
To qualify for the awards, schools must meet a number of performance standards — and that includes increasingly stringent state and federal standards.
Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said the steep drop from 728 award-winning schools was because of their failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress, testing goals set by the federal government to get all students 100 percent proficient in reading and math by 2014.
A byproduct of No Child Left Behind, the benchmarks have been widely criticized as unrealistic. Virginia, Maryland, the District and many other school systems have said they will seek a waiver from the federal law’s requirements.
Fairfax failed to make AYP last year for the first time since 2007. A spokesman for the school system did not return calls or emails seeking comment, but Superintendent Jack Dale has been vocal about his views of AYP.
“Fairfax County Public Schools no longer considers Adequate Yearly Progress a true measure of our students’ achievement,” he said.
Virginia is rolling out a new math exam this spring and is revealing its revamped reading test next year, which may contribute to lower pass rates and thus fewer AYP successes, Pyle said. Other schools were disqualified when graduation rates became a qualification for state accreditation last year.
Alexandria and Arlington failed to make AYP last year, as did all but four districts across Virginia.
