The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released 2024-25 school year accreditation and accountability information for public school divisions under its new system today. Virginia recently changed its accountability system by separating school accreditation and school performance. Accreditation is focused on whether schools provide an essential foundation of high-quality programs for all students. Performance is captured through the School Performance and Support Framework and is focused on student progress and outcomes. 

Under the accreditation system, schools are assigned the following categories: 

  • Fully Accredited: Meets all requirements set by the state 
  • Conditionally Accredited: Has some areas to fix to regain full status 
  • Accreditation Denied: Has not made the required fixes 
  • New School: Temporary status for newly opened schools for one year 
  • Accreditation Withheld: Used if there is a serious testing issue, and results cannot be validated. 

All elementary, middle, and traditional schools in Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) are Fully Accredited. PWCS high schools received a designation of Conditionally Accredited because PWCS does not award Certificates of Program Completion to students who have completed programs of study but have not met the criteria for an applied, standard, or advanced diploma.  

PWCS has never issued Certificates of Program Completion due to its commitment to maintaining the rigor and expectations prescribed in the Standards of Accreditation. A Certificate of Program Completion is not equivalent to a diploma. PWCS does not believe that schools, especially those with graduation rates approaching 100%, should be punished for not offering a lower standard. This is the first year PWCS high schools have been assigned the Conditionally Accredited designation due to the Certificate of Program Completion.  

Given that the only area of technical noncompliance is the absence of this certificate, an option the division intentionally does not use to avoid lowering graduation expectations, PWCS asserts that the school(s) continues to meet the intent of the Standards of Accreditation through robust, research-based practices that promote genuine student success. PWCS will appeal this decision through VDOE. 

The School Performance and Support Framework is aligned with federal requirements and provides school performance information through performance labels. Based on their total accumulation of index points within the new system, schools are assigned one of four performance labels:  

  • Distinguished: Exceeding expectations 
  • On Track: Meeting expectations 
  • Off Track: Not meeting expectations, receives extra state support 
  • Needs Intensive Support: Significantly below expectations; receives strongest state support 

The VDOE's School Performance and Support Framework uses a 100-point scale with categories: Distinguished (90+), On Track (80-89), Off Track (65-79), and Needs Intensive Support (<65). Points are determined by Mastery (50-65%), Growth (20-25%), Readiness (10-35%), and High School Graduation (15% for HS). 

It is important to note that by index scores alone, no schools in PWCS fall into the Needs Intensive Support category. However, several schools were federally identified as “Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) schools” and dropped into the next lowest category.  A school will receive a federal TSI designation if one or more student subgroups are below a given threshold. This threshold is recalculated annually.  

More information can be found here.