Twenty-five Fairfax County public schools have been awarded a 2023 Virginia Board of Education Exemplar Award. Four schools received the Highest Achievement Exemplar Award, and 21 received the Continuous Improvement Exemplar Award.

The schools receiving the Highest Achievement Award are:

• Sangster Elementary School
• Spring Hill Elementary School
• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
• Westbriar Elementary School

The criteria for this award are:

• The school must be accredited. 
• The school meets state benchmarks in reading, math, and science (75% for reading and 70% for math and science) based on the current year pass rate on state assessments (not including growth or English learner progress).
• All student groups within the school meet state benchmarks in reading and math (75%for reading and 70% for math) based on the current year pass rate on state assessments (not including growth or English learner progress), and 
• For schools with two student groups, there is no more than five percentage points between the lowest performing group and all other students in the school; or 
• For schools with three or more student groups, there is no more than ten percentage points between the lowest performing group and all other students in the school. 

The schools receiving the Continuous Improvement Exemplar Award are:

• Annandale High School
• Annandale Terrace Elementary School
• Louise Archer Elementary School
• Belvedere Elementary School
• Brookfield Elementary School
• Centreville Elementary School
• Cunningham Park Elementary School
• Dranesville Elementary School
• Falls Church High School
• Fort Belvoir Elementary School
• Herndon Elementary School
• Katherine Johnson Middle School
• Laurel Hill Elementary School
• Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School
• Orange Hunt Elementary School
• Providence Elementary School
• Rose Hill Elementary School
• Silverbrook Elementary School
• South County Middle School
• Virginia Run Elementary School
• West Potomac High School

To receive the Continuous Improvement Award, the school can be Accredited or Accredited with Conditions and must meet at least one of the following criteria: 

• The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for math, reading and science for each of the past three years (for 2022-2023 only, the three years are 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2021-2022), with a total increase across the three years of 10 points or more.
• The school demonstrates an increase in the combined rate for two or more student groups in reading and math for each of the past three years (for 2022-2023 only, the three years are 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2021-2022), with a total increase across the three years of 10 points or more. 
• The school demonstrates an increase in the Graduation and Completion Index (GCI) for each of the past three years (for 2022-2023 only, the three years are 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2021-2022), with a total increase across the three years of 4% or more; and school demonstrates a decrease in the dropout rate for each of the past three years (for 2022-2023 only, the three years are 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2021-2022), with the total reduction across three years of 15% or more of the first year’s dropout rate. 

More information about the Virginia Board of Education Exemplar Awards is available online.

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