Oregon Hill’s Open High School was one of only 4 city schools (among 54 state-wide) awarded waivers from annual accreditation:

Each school receiving a waiver will remain fully accredited for three years. The schools qualified for the flexibility by achieving pass rates of 95 percent or higher in all four tested Standards of Learning (SOL) content areas for two consecutive years.

“The waivers provide an opportunity for high-achieving schools to try new approaches in covering the SOL content without worrying about a potential short-term impact on test scores and accreditation ratings,” Wright said. “I encourage superintendents and principals to empower teachers in these schools to move away from excessive review and practice and focus instead on providing rich and varied instruction that exceeds the standards.”

The 4 Richmond schools given waivers are Bellevue Elementary, Mary Munford Elementary, Open High and Richmond Community High.