Report card: Achievements, weaknesses identified in RCPS academics

Rappahannock County Public Schools showed big academic advancements in the 2023-24 school year, especially in English, raising their state accreditation levels overall. 

But there still seems to be room for improvement. 

While English scores rose at both the elementary school and high school, math scores fell for high school students with disabilities, and elementary school science numbers took a dip. 

Both schools were fully accredited — a system used to measure the quality and performance of a school in key learning areas — for the 2024-25 school year. 

Schools are rated on a scale of level one to level three in six “school quality indicators” — level one being the highest level — based on test scores in math, English and science, Karen Ellis, academic services coordinator, said during a presentation at this month’s School Board meeting. 

Data used to determine the schools’ accreditation this year was collected during the 2023-24 academic year.

“The good news is we saw an improvement from where we were rated from last year,” Ellis said at the Sept. 10 meeting. “No matter what gets thrown at us as far as accreditation, we’re always going to do what’s right by students. If we keep that goal, then everything else will fall into place.” 

Key improvements in the accreditation report include:

• Both schools improved their English “achievement gaps” — differences in achievement among groups of students, usually different demographic or socioeconomic groups.

• Rappahannock County Elementary School (RCES) received level one ratings in all six school quality indicators. 

• English scores for RCES students considered to be “English learners” rose over 27%. Multi-race students’ scores rose drastically from 57.14% to 86.67%.

• Rappahannock County High School (RCHS) science scores rose 1.02 points last year, up from a 64.08% average in the 2022-23 school year.

• Chronic absenteeism, students who miss at least 10% of the school year, at both schools decreased, RCHS down 5.66% and RCES down 2.98%.

• RCHS graduation and completion rates went up from 91.95% to 95.75%, and the dropout rate went down from 3.57% to 1.67%. 

Ellis said although the schools made “big achievements” overall, the report revealed areas needing improvement. 

Areas with a lowered performance include:

• RCES science scores dipped, dropping from a 84.44% average to 79.16% in the 2023-24 school year. Ellis attributed the “dip” in scores to outliers that can easily skew data in small class sizes, and differences in academic strengths from one cohort to another. Accreditation in elementary science only takes into consideration scores of fifth grade science students, Ellis said, unlike math and reading which factor in grades 3-7. 

• Math scores dropped 7.36% for all high school students. But for students with disabilities — a category that encompasses all students with individualized educational plans (IEP) — scores dropped from 64.71% to 35%.

• RCHS received level two ratings (“near standard”) in three of the nine school quality indicators — achievement gap-English, achievement gap-math and academic achievement-science.

Ellis said this year, the school system has plans to promote higher achievement for elementary and high school students with disabilities, as well as overall achievement in science for high school students. 

Next month, both principals will present their comprehensive and improvement plans for the year to the board, which Ellis said will include some of the areas of focus identified in the accreditation report. 

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