CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Sixty-five schools from across West Virginia, including elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and career technical centers, were honored Monday for achieving Exemplary Accreditation status. Two schools that earlier were named National Blue Ribbon Schools also were recognized for their achievement.

“We have high expectations for all schools in West Virginia and these schools have achieved the state board’s highest level of recognition,” said West Virginia Board of Education President Priscilla Haden. “This accomplishment speaks highly of the quality of education throughout West Virginia, with schools from every area of our state identified as exemplary. Educators, parents, students and communities serving our schools understand that quality is important and are working hard to ensure students succeed. We encourage them to keep up the good work.”

Exemplary distinction is the gold standard of educational achievement, said Kenna Seal, director of the Office of Education Performance Audits. Schools must meet a set of rigorous standards to achieve such status:

1. All schools will be ranked by the percent proficient in each subject, including reading/language arts, math, science, social studies as well as the Writing Assessment. Schools earning the top combined ranking will be eligible for the next step of ranking on a student achievement index. All students in each school will be ranked by a student achievement index in each subject on the WESTEST and Writing Assessment with progressive weighting for scores at each performance level (.25 for Below Mastery, .5 for Mastery, .75 for Above Mastery, and 1.0 for Distinguished) and aggregated for a total ranking. The top 10 percent weighted ranking for elementary, middle and high schools will be designated as Exemplary if other criteria are met.
2. The student attendance rate is at or above 94 percent in the most recent year for which data are available.
3. The student graduation rate is at or above 85 percent.
4. The percentage of graduates of high schools who declare their intent to enroll in college and other post-secondary education is 55 percent.
5. The percentage of students who successfully complete Advanced Placement, dual credit and honors classes as defined in Policy 2510 is at or above five percent in high schools.

Career technical centers also have strenuous criteria to meet. Such schools must meet a minimum of 70 percent of proficiency standards across all concentrations; have a 90 percent placement rate; and a 65 percent in-field job placement and continuing education rate, among other requirements. The following schools earned 2009-2010 Exemplary Accreditation status:

CAREER AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS

To qualify as National Blue Ribbon Schools, public schools must have at least 40 percent of their students from disadvantaged backgrounds that dramatically improve student performance on state tests or have students, regardless of background, achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on state tests.

NATIONAL BLUE RIBBON SCHOOLS

For more information, contact the OEPA at (304) 558-3788, or the Office of the Communications at (304) 558-2699. To view photo from the event, click here: http://wvde.state.wv.us/tt/2009/ex2009.