Virginia Schools recently received national acclaim for some of its successful schools. Newsweek released its list of the top 5% of schools in the nation, and 87 Virginia Schools made the cut. Eleven Virginia Schools made the top 100, and an additional two were included in the list of the public elites. Those two were Maggie Walker Governors School for Government and International Studies and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Both were included because of the higher than average SAT and ACT scores of their students.
Virginia Schools achieve these results while spending about $7,751 annually per pupil. This puts the state right in the middle for national spending. Clearly some good results are coming from some of the efforts of Virginia Schools. But there are still some big concerns and certain gaps. Like the rest of the country, Virginia Schools struggle with an achievement gap for minority students. African-American and other minority students consistently score lower as a group on standardized tests. Socioeconomic factors have proven to dramatically effect a students academic success.
One way that the Virginia Schools are trying to remedy...