Amherst schools expect accreditation

All 10 Amherst County schools are expected to be fully accredited according to preliminary results, officials said.

School board members applauded when Superintendent Brian Ratliff announced the news at a meeting last week.

“They are preliminary at best,” Ratliff said. “It does appear at this point we will be accredited at all of our schools.”

Ratliff said all schools have worked hard to improve students’ learning. He credited parents, staff and students with the division’s success.

Currently, the only schools without full accreditation are Central Elementary and Monelison Middle schools. Central struggled with its writing scores last year and Monelison, like many other middle schools across the state, had a difficult time with its math scores.

Earlier this year, officials said early writing scores at Central and other schools looked good. A preliminary review of writing scores in May showed had a pass rate of 74.47 percent, a nearly a 20-point gain from last year.

At Monelison, which focused vigorously on math during the most recent school year, this year marks the first time in the past two years the school will be fully accredited. This year was its second consecutive year to be accredited with warning. If Monelison had reached four years in a row, it could have been denied accreditation.

Accreditation is a statewide accountability measure that requires public schools to achieve certain pass rates in various subjects on the Standards of Learning assessments. Official results are expected mid-summer.

Accreditation is not the same as Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, which is the federal accountability standard. Both measures do use SOL tests to gauge proficiency.

Ratliff said as far as AYP goes, he couldn’t say how schools will stack up against the federal standard. In the meantime, though, division officials were proud of the accreditation news.

“I am pleased to announce from a preliminary, initial look we’re accredited at all our schools,” he said.