We, as an institution, still align ourselves with the perspective that a school is more than its test scores.

Recently, Prince Edward County Elementary School, Prince Edward County Middle School and Cumberland County Middle School received the status of “Partially Accredited: Reconstituted School” following being listed as “To Be Determined” when overall accreditation statuses were announced.

“A reconstituted school reverts to accreditation-denied status if it fails to meet full accreditation requirements within the agreed-upon term, or if it fails to have its annual application for Partially Accredited-Reconstituted School renewed,” Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) officials cited on the department’s website.

Both federal and VDOE ratings are primarily based on Standards of Learning (SOL) tests administered in the 2016-17 school year. According to VDOE officials, requirements to earn full accreditation include students must achieve adjusted pass rates of at least 75 percent in English and at least 70 percent on assessments in mathematics, science and history.

A label of accreditation which is lesser than “Fully Accredited” doesn’t make the school or the division inherently bad. There’s more to education than testing and there are many well educated students whose test scores may be more telling of testing anxieties than level of intelligence. It’s not that there shouldn’t be a methodology or minimum standard for measuring achievement. However, these labels shouldn’t be the only thing a school is judged on. It should also be noted that one test that doesn’t meet a testing benchmark could result in a full school being listed as accreditation denied.

We congratulate the schools that received the “Partially Accredited: Reconstituted School” status and recognize the amount of work that has been done and will continue to be done to bring these scores to a position where they pass set benchmarks. There’s no doubt that these schools are up to the task.