School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF)

In August 2024, Virginia Board of Education adopted a new accountability system, the School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF). Schools received their first ratings and designations under this new system in the fall of 2025. Results for each school were released on December 9, 2025 and can be found on the Virginia School Quality Profile webpage – https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/. The School Quality Profile Family FAQ contains additional information about the new School Quality Profiles.

The School Performance & Support Framework rates schools on four components: Mastery, Growth, Readiness and Graduation. Each component is weighted differently depending on whether it is for elementary, middle or high school. Each component is broken down into several measurements, which vary in importance by school level.

Arlington Public Schools – 2025-26 Division Summary Report (based on data from 2024-25)

Highlights of APS’s performance in the new accountability and accreditation framework include:

All APS schools remain fully accredited
All APS middle schools and comprehensive high schools received a rating of On Track or Distinguished
1/3 of APS schools received a Distinguished rating
10 APS elementary schools had at least 1 student group federally identified for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI)
- Students with Disabilities were identified at all 10 elementary schools
- English Learners were identified at 1 of the 10 elementary school
- Hispanic students were identified at 3 of the 10 elementary schools

Virginia Performance Categories

Distinguished: 12 schools
On Track: 12 schools
Off Track: 3 schools
Needs Intensive Support: 8 schools

Federal Identification Categories

Comprehensive Support & Improvement (CSI): 1 high school
Targeted Support & Improvement (TSI):10 elementary schools

Resources for Families

Virginia School Performance and Support Family Guide

Virginia Federal Support Family Guide

The 4 Components

Mastery: incorporates all student Standards of Learning test results. It awards additional credit for students who reach advanced levels and partial credit for students who do not yet meet grade-level standards.
Growth: uses a student’s past performance on Virginia SOL tests to measure how they are expected to learn from the start of the school year to the end. The metric then compares expected learning to actual learning at the end of the year.
Readiness: considers measures such as chronic absenteeism and the percentage of students demonstrating they are post-secondary readiness when they graduate from high school through the 3E Framework (Enrollment, Employment, and Enlistment). It also includes the percentage of students graduating with additional time.
Graduation includes a cohort rate for high school students graduating with an advanced or standard high school diploma in four years.

Overall School Performance

Every school in Virginia will receive an overall score based on the total number of points they earn, based on how students perform on the 4 components. Students who perform at a high level earn additional points for the school, and students who nearly meet the standard can earn partial points.

Distinguished (90 pts and above): Schools are exceeding the state’s expectation for achievement, growth, readiness, and graduation.
On Track (80-89 pts): Schools are meeting the state’s expectation for achievement, growth readiness, and graduation.
Off Track (65-79 pts): Schools are not meeting the state’s expectation for achievement, growth, readiness, and graduation.
Needs Intensive Support (Below 65 pts): Schools are significantly not meeting the state’s expectation for achievement, growth readiness, and graduation

In addition to these performance categories, all schools will also receive an accreditation designation: Fully Accredited, Conditionally Accredited, or Accreditation Denied.
No school in Virginia will have their accreditation denied in the first year of this new system.

Based on federal requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), some schools in Virginia may receive a federal identification of Comprehensive Support (CSI), Targeted Support (TSI) or Additional Targeted Support (ATSI) based on the full school or student group performance.

Federal Identification

The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires a state’s accountability system to measure student outcomes in specific areas and identify public schools for support based on performance. Three categories of schools are identified for support.

Comprehensive Support & Improvement (CSI) –Title I schools struggling the most (lowest 5% in Virginia) plus any high schools with a federal graduation rate below 67 percent are identified for comprehensive support and improvement. Identification occurs every 3 years.

Targeted Support & Improvement (TSI) – Schools with low performing student groups are identified for targeted support and improvement. Identification occurs annually.

The steps to identify TSI schools are:

Step 1: Identify the threshold on the School Performance and Support Framework for All Students that determined the lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools requiring Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) for each school type (Elementary, Middle, and High School).

Step 2: Identify schools that have a student group(s) (15 or more) with a weighted score for any individual group of students below the applicable school type threshold.

Step 3: Of the schools identified in Step 2, retain schools that have a student group(s) below the applicable school type threshold in Reading, Math, and Science Performance (as applicable) Indicators using Percentage. Schools or student groups with a missing indictor of Science will be based on performance in Reading and Math.

2024-2025 Thresholds for Elementary, Middle and High School

Additional Targeted Support & Improvement (TSI) – From among schools identified for targeted support and improvement, any school with one or more student groups performing below the level of the highest performing comprehensive support and improvement school is identified. Identification occurs every 3 years.

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Learn more about the School Performance and Support Framework (SPSF)