Federally-mandated public school “report cards” released by the V.I. Education Department this week highlighted a handful of successes and an array of challenges facing students, educators and parents in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The reports “offer a comprehensive overview of school performance through data breakdowns, consistent metrics, and clear communication strategies developed by VIDE’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation,” according to a statement the department issued Tuesday. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, a federal law that replaced No Child Left Behind in 2015, the department developed the Virgin Islands Students and Teachers Accountability System to provide “relevant, data-driven insights to support targeted school improvement initiatives.”
VISTAS rates schools on a scale of one to five and provides a scorecard based on student attendance, English and math proficiency, and graduation rates.
The data outlined in report cards released Tuesday reflected testimony Education Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington presented to the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee in August when she shared the scores for Joseph Sibilly Elementary School — the only school in the territory to receive a four-star rating — and St. Croix Educational Complex, which received three stars.
Breaking down Sibilly students’ performance for lawmakers, Wells-Hedrington said at the time that 50.5% met grade-level standards in English Language Arts and 51.6% showed similar proficiency in math. According to VIDE’s submitted testimony, Sibilly’s strong performance was attributed largely to its “exceptional” attendance rate. Chronic absenteeism was measured at 4% — less than half the average of schools in the St. Thomas-St. John district and well under the territory average of 13%.
Fifteen of the remaining 18 schools received two-star ratings, according to the report cards unveiled this week. Besides Complex, Ricardo Richards Elementary School was the only campus to earn three, and its 13% rate of chronic absenteeism was aligned with the territorial average but well below the St. Croix district’s average of 18%. Jane E. Tuitt and the Bertha C. Boschulte Elementary School — which closed early Tuesday due to a shortage of teachers — each received one star.
Beyond attendance, the report cards show that the territory’s high school students continue to struggle in math. Only 5.2% of Charlotte Amalie High School students and 5.5% of Ivanna Eudora Kean students were deemed proficient in the subject. Complex fared better at 8.1 percent, but less than one percent of St. Croix Central High School students achieved proficiency.
Review each school’s report card below:
