RICHMOND, Va. — The nation’s leading education journal today ranked Virginia’s public schools as third in the nation in student achievement based on the performance of students on national assessments in reading and mathematics, graduation rates and achievement on Advanced Placement examinations.
Education Week’s Quality Counts 2019 report awarded the commonwealth a letter grade of B- for K-12 achievement. Only Massachusetts, with a B+, and New Jersey, with a B, earned higher grades.
“This is exciting news as our students begin a new school year,” Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane said. “I look forward to visiting as many schools as I can during the coming weeks and months and personally congratulating teachers, principals, administrators and support professionals for all they do as we strive to make the commonwealth’s schools the best in the nation.”
K-12 achievement comprises one-third of Education Week’s three-part Quality Counts rating system. Earlier this year, the publication awarded Virginia a B on its “Chance for Success Index” and a C for school finance.
Today’s grade for K-12 achievement resulted in Virginia earning an overall grade of B- from Education Week for 2019.
The Quality Counts 2019 report is available online. Reports from previous years also are available.
