Dear Parent or Guardian:
We are pleased to provide you with the 15th Annual School Report Card containing information about your child's school. Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) publishes the annual school report cards to provide you with a resource for assessing many aspects of your child's school and for evaluating success over time.
As in previous years, this report card contains information pertaining to student and staff characteristics, perceptions of educational quality, attendance, school performance, and progress toward meeting state and federal accountability requirements. We continue to place an emphasis on student outcomes related to our strategic plan, Compass to 2015, which extends beyond the traditional Standards of Learning assessment results. In the middle and high school report cards, we include information that would not be found elsewhere, such as results from the EXPLORE Assessment or the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA). These assessments are aligned with our strategic plan that focuses on teaching and assessing 21st century skills. The Standards of Learning information for your child's school can still be found on the Virginia Department of Education website.
Compass to 2015 is an ambitious strategic plan, and we are committed to continuous improvement to ensure that our students graduate with the skills needed to succeed as 21st century learners, workers, and citizens. Our commitment has earned us several accolades and resulted in a number of accomplishments. For example, through increasing access to Advanced Placement (AP) courses and improved student performance on AP exams, the school division has been named on the College Board's Third Annual AP District Honor Roll. Our high schools have been consistently recognized and highly ranked with other top-performing schools across the nation by The Washington Post, U.S. News, and Newsweek. The state has also awarded 20 of our schools Board of Education and Governor's awards of excellence. Additionally, our commitment to sustainability efforts has led to VBCPS being named the Best Green School District in the country by the U.S. Green Building Council's Center for Green Schools. Finally, since the inception of the strategic plan, the percent of our students who graduate or complete high school has also increased, while the percent of students in each cohort who drop out has decreased. These are just some of the accomplishments that illustrate the fact that VBCPS is an extraordinary school division.
Maintaining our school division's excellent record of continuous improvement depends on our students, teachers, staff, community, and family members like you. We hope that you will continue to help us succeed through your commitment to your child's education and by taking an active role at your child's school.
Sincerely,
James G. Merrill, Ed.D.
Superintendent
If you have any questions about the contents of a specific school report card, please contact the school's principal or the Department of Educational Leadership and Assessment at 757.263.1199.
