Explaining changes in how the state’s tougher school grading impacts Williamsburg-James City County schools will be one of the bigger challenges facing him in the coming year, says incoming Superintendent Daniel F. Keever.
“It's a new accreditation system,” Keever told us in an interview last week. “That will be a challenge for us…to help our community understand. What do these ratings mean and how are we continuing to work with our students to enhance achievement rates?”
The Virginia Board of Education’s new grading process holds schools to a stricter standard and places greater emphasis on absenteeism, how students improve in their Standards of Learning tests, and the percentage of students who graduate on time, among other factors.
Although the new grading doesn’t start until next school year, an online report that shows how they would have fared last year showed some room for improvement in local schools.
Under the new system, schools achieving 90 …