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On June 13, 2000, the Times-Dispatch reported that the Superintendent said the 2000 SOL improvements make him "extremely optimistic."
We have the 2000 data for the 3d grade, 5th grade, 8th grade, and high school. In summary, our scores are second from worst in the state:
DIVISION NAME 00 Avg SOL SOL Rank FALLS CHURCH CITY 82 5 ALEXANDRIA CITY 59 93 ARLINGTON 71 36 CHARLOTTESVILLE CITY 55 109 SURRY 57 103 RICHMOND CITY 39 128 LEXINGTON CITY 88 1 BATH 67 57 CHARLES CITY COUNTY 43 127 STATE AVERAGE 68 NORFOLK CITY 57 99 PORTSMOUTH CITY 47 125 HENRICO 77 13 DANVILLE CITY 52 115 SUFFOLK CITY 49 120 CHESTERFIELD 76 15 PETERSBURG CITY 36 129 HANOVER 78 10 In general, the Richmond scores are far behind the state average and they fell farther behind this year. On that subject, here are the Richmond and state average scores by subject for '98 and the changes between '98 and '00:
'98 Score Change '98 - '00 Subject Richmond State Difference Richmond State Difference 3 English 35 55 -20 2 6 -4 3 Math 40 64 -23 4 8 -4 3 History 27 49 -22 13 16 -3 3 Science 37 63 -27 12 10 2 5 Write 50 65 -15 12 16 -4 5 RLR 46 68 -22 -3 0 -3 5 Math 22 47 -24 15 17 -2 5 History 12 33 -21 10 18 -8 5 Science 36 59 -23 0 5 -5 5 Computer 47 72 -26 19 13 6 8 Write 50 67 -17 4 9 -6 8 English 45 65 -19 -1 5 -6 8 Math 23 53 -30 8 9 -1 8 History 12 35 -23 4 15 -11 8 Science 42 71 -29 11 10 0 8 Computer 36 63 -28 16 14 2 EOC Write 58 71 -12 6 14 -9 EOC RLR 56 72 -15 -1 7 -7 Algebra I 14 40 -26 7 25 -18 Geometry 19 52 -33 6 15 -9 Algebra II 9 31 -22 8 27 -19 US History 10 30 -21 2 9 -7 Earth Science 25 58 -33 12 12 0 Biology 37 72 -36 14 7 7 Chemistry 18 54 -37 2 9 -8 Average 32 56 -24 7 12 -5 In summary, we were 24 points behind the state average in '98; by '00 we had fallen to 29 points behind.
As another measure of the "growth" of the SOL scores that make Dr. Williams "extremely optimistic," let's look at the Accreditation Status of the Richmond schools as announced on Oct. 25, 2000.
The State classifies schools in four categories:
- Fully Accredited (22% statewide): Meets standards
- Provisionally Accredited (38.3% statewide): Meet annual progress benchmarks
- Needs Improvement (26.6% statewide): Within 20 points of the annual progress benchmarks
- Warning (12.8% statewide): 20 or more points behind the annual progress benchmarks
Here are those data for Richmond, the Richmond suburbs, and the SOL basement schools in Danville, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth, and Suffolk
Division Full Progress Needs Imp. Warn CHESTERFIELD 43% 38% 17% 2% HANOVER 50% 44% 6% 0% HENRICO 57% 15% 15% 13% GOOCHLAND 0% 60% 40% 0% STATE 22% 38% 27% 13% DANVILLE 0% 13% 40% 47% NORFOLK 4% 31% 37% 29% PETERSBURG 0% 0% 0% 100% PORTSMOUTH 0% 11% 33% 56% RICHMOND 5% 7% 22% 66% SUFFOLK 0% 22% 50% 28% In sum, statewide 60% of the schools are fully accredited or meeting the benchmarks. In Richmond, 12%. Statewide 13% of the schools are 20 or more points behind the benchmarks; in Richmond, 66%.
Viewed otherwise:
The only place we get to brag on is poor Petersburg.
The Census people publish the per pupil expenditure in '97 for the school divisions with 5,000 or more students. Here we plot the percentage of the division's schools that are fully accredited or meeting the standards for progress vs. the per pupil cost. You can see that Richmond is the high cost/poor performance leader. The three green points are (from the top) Hanover, Chesterfield, and Henrico. The red dots are the cities in the SOL cellar (from the top), Norfolk, Suffolk, Danville, Portsmouth, and Petersburg. Except for Petersburg, they are getting better performance than Richmond for $2,000 per year lower cost. You can follow the link for more information on school costs.
Here are the accreditation results for the individual Richmond schools:
School Type Accreditation CAREER DEVELOPMENT CTR. ALTERNATIVE Warning EDUCARE ALTERNATIVE Warning MOSBY MIDDLE COMBINED Warning A. V. NORRELL ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning BELLEVUE MODEL ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement BLACKWELL ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning BROAD ROCK ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning CHIMBORAZO ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning CLARK SPRINGS ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning E. S. H. GREENE ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning ELIZABETH D. REDD ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement FAIRFIELD COURT ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning G. H. REID ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement GEORGE MASON ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning GEORGE W. CARVER ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning GINTER PARK ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement J. B. FISHER ELEM. ELEMENTARY Meets State Standards J. E. B. STUART ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning J. L. FRANCIS ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning JOHN B. CARY ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement LINWOOD HOLTON ELEM ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement MARY MUNFORD ELEM. ELEMENTARY Fully Accredited MAYMONT ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning MILES JONES ELEM ELEMENTARY Warning OAK GROVE/BELLEMEADE ELEM ELEMENTARY Warning OVERBY-SHEPPARD ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning PATRICK HENRY ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning ROBERT E. LEE ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement SOUTHAMPTON ELEM. ELEMENTARY Meets State Standards SUMMER HILL/RUFFIN ROAD ELEMENTARY Warning SWANSBORO ELEM. ELEMENTARY Needs Improvement WESTOVER HILLS ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning WHITCOMB COURT ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning WILLIAM FOX ELEM. ELEMENTARY Fully Accredited WOODVILLE ELEM. ELEMENTARY Warning ALBERT HILL MIDDLE MIDDLE Needs Improvement BINFORD MIDDLE MIDDLE Meets State Standards CHANDLER MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning ELKHARDT MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning FRED D. THOMPSON MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning HENDERSON MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning LUCILLE M. BROWN MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning ONSLOW MINNIS MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning THOMAS C. BOUSHALL MIDDLE MIDDLE Warning ARMSTRONG HIGH SECONDARY Warning FRANKLIN MILITARY SECONDARY Warning GEORGE WYTHE HIGH SECONDARY Warning GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL SECONDARY Fully Accredited HUGUENOT HIGH SECONDARY Warning JOHN F. KENNEDY HIGH SECONDARY Warning JOHN MARSHALL HIGH SECONDARY Warning OPEN HIGH SECONDARY Needs Improvement RICHMOND COMMUNITY HIGH SECONDARY Meets State Standards THOMAS JEFFERSON HIGH SECONDARY Warning AMELIA STREET SP ED SPECIAL EDUCATIO Needs Improvement PRE-SCHOOL DEV. CENTER SPECIAL EDUCATIO Needs Improvement REAL SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATIO Warning THIRTEEN ACRES SPECIAL EDUCATIO Needs Improvement Here in graphical form are the scores for the new Holton School:
Not exactly fodder for optimism.
Moreover (see the links above) the Richmond scores are increasing (where they are increasing) more slowly than the statewide average. Dr. Williams' spin about his "optimism" cannot change that. Indeed, as long as this synthetic "optimism" is the official line, it will indicate that the school system remains in denial.
The first step to improvement is to admit the problem. Richmond continues to deny that it has a problem. As a result, the Richmond schools continue to squander our tax money on a system that fails, and will continue to fail, to educate Richmond's children.
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Last updated 02/24/02
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Butcher