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Reasons Why VBCPS is Ahead of the Curve
- Based on 2006-2007 Standards of Learning (SOL) results, it appears
100 percent of Virginia Beach's public schools will earn full accreditation
once again.
- The Class of 2007 was awarded $19,648,113 in scholarships.
- Ten academy programs available to students in the division – two at the elementary school level, one at the
middle school level, and seven at the high school level.
- Awarded the United States Senate Productivity and Quality Award for
Virginia – Medallion of Performance Excellence! This is the highest level of
recognition presented to organizations that have been identified as model
organizations. These organizations have demonstrated excellence and maturity in each of seven categories through their approach, deployment, and outstanding results. The seven categories are Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; Human Resource Focus; Process Management;
and Organizational Results.
- Identified as an "outperforming" school district by Standard & Poor's, the world's foremost provider of ratings and indices. Known for its expert data interpretation, Standard and Poor's recently published
an analysis of school districts across the country that could be considered "outperforming." An outperforming school district is defined as a school
district that surpasses the performance of other districts of similar size and
demographics in reading and math proficiency.
- Fiscal Year 2007-2008 operating budget is $707.2 million.
- Landstown High School and Technology Academy's Technology Education
Department earned the 2004 Technology Education Department Program
Excellence Award from the International Technology Education Association (ITEA), one of the highest honors given to Technology Education classroom teachers on the elementary, middle
or high school levels.
- VBCPS is currently in the midst of a six-year $520.6 million capital improvement program designed to modernize, through renovation or replacement, the district's aging schools as a means of ensuring educational equity for students throughout the district.
- The awarding winning VBCPS Web site – vbschools.com – averages approximately 479,914 hits monthly during the 2006-2007 school year.
- Web Integrated System for Employees (WISE) an integrated human resources-payroll system implemented to ensure greater individual and budgetary
accuracy.
- The Council of PTAs and 81 individual school PTAs experienced continued success through the Volunteers In
Education program, with approximately 21,000 donating nearly half a million hours of service, a fair market value of over $9 million.
- The school division's Partners in Education program has established
successful collaborations with more than 2,100 businesses, community
organizations, military commands, and educational and government
entities throughout our region and beyond.
- The Virginia Beach Public Schools Education Foundation awarded $111,000 in grants to educators for
innovative classroom projects. This includes up to $5,000 each that were awarded for innovative projects to
two elementary, three middle, and two high schools.
- The Virginia Department of Education honored Plaza and Windsor Oaks
elementary schools as "Title I Distinguished Schools" for raising the academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students while exceeding federal objectives and state accreditation
standards. In order to qualify for the honor, each school had to meet federal
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) benchmarks in reading and math for the
2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years, be fully accredited by the state, and have mean test scores in the 60th percentile or higher for English and math.
- Plaza and Seatack elementary schools were selected as a 2005-2006 Year-Round School of Merit by the National Association for Year-Round Education (NAYRE). This honor was awarded to only four year-round elementary schools in the United States, and is based upon commitment to improving the educational experience through the use of a balanced calendar and reducing summer learning loss. Schools earning this award serve as national role models for other schools seeking academic excellence through time and learning.
- Hermitage Elementary School became the first certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) elementary school in the Commonwealth of Virginia during last school year.
The certification was based on the
materials selection, indoor environmental quality, water savings and other features incorporated in Hermitage's $11.1 million construction that replaced an original school built in 1964. This environmental certification, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources. LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific
standards, LEED emphasizes state
of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy
efficiency, materials selection and
indoor environmental quality.
- Hermitage Elementary School was designated as a 2005 No Child Left
Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The
Blue Ribbon School Program honors high performing public and private K-12 schools that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement. All public schools must be fully accredited and meet objectives for student achievement under No Child Left Behind.
- The school division's Department of Technology has successfully provided the following technology accomplishments: high speed fiber network provides the means to easily and effectively incorporate technology such as Internet and video streaming into instruction; Web-based applications for grade book, local
assessments, and student data analysis as well as a wide range of instructional applications; ability to purchase computer hardware and software for personal use
at significant discounts; a single, division wide standard for computer operating system and suite of office productivity applications; availability of instructional resource labs and laptop carts/mobile
labs at each school; and overall student
to computer ratio of 2.66:1.
- Newsweek magazine ranked six Virginia Beach High Schools among the nation's best in May, 2007. Ranking in the top five percent of the nation's high schools were Princess Anne (#208); Ocean Lakes (#628); Frank W. Cox (#814); First Colonial (#967); Salem (#1204); and Kempsville (#1207). Rankings were determined using a rating based on the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB); and/
or Cambridge tests taken by all students in the school in 2005-2006, divided
by the number of graduates.
- Three Virginia Beach elementary schools have earned 2007 Title I
Distinguished School honors from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). Green Run, Hermitage,
and Windsor Oaks elementary schools are three of seven Hampton Roads schools that received the honor. In order to receive this award, schools must make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two consecutive years, be fully accredited for the past two consecutive years, exceed the annual measurable objectives in English and mathematics for the past two consecutive years, and have a mean scale score at the 60th percentile in English and mathematics on the Standards of Learning assessments.
- Virginia Beach City Public Schools Technical and Career Education Center's auto body/paint technology course was certified by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation and Automotive Service Excellence, a national non-profit organization which tests and certifies repair technicians in addition to certifying automotive training programs.
- The school division's Department of Media and Communications Development was awarded a total of 20 awards, including the highly acclaimed Gold Medallion and Golden Achievement Awards, from the National School Public Relations Association for a variety of print, mixed media and electronic media projects. The school division was one of only four school districts in the nation to earn NSPRA's highest honor, the 2007 Gold Medallion Award.
- Virginia Beach's Military Child Initiative was recognized for its
outstanding educational and public relations outreach to military families.
- High school students enrolled in technical and career education course
have the option of working toward industry certification credentials in
more than 50 of the programs that are offered. In 2006-2007, Virginia
Beach City Public Schools students earned 3,130 industry certifications. Included in those certifications,
752 students passed the Virginia's Workplace Readiness Skills National
Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) certifications. In addition,
dual enrollment and articulation agreements for classes were also
available in conjunction with Tidewater Community College.
- The school division's award-winning distance learning program offers two
full-online courses and 58 sections of 33 courses live via two-way video-conferencing. All 11 comprehensive high schools and 11 middle schools
have Distance Learning Labs in which students take advanced and elective courses which otherwise be unavailable. In 2006-2007, the distance learning program served over 1200 students.
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