93 Percent of Virginia's Public Schools Fully Accredited

Virginia education officials said 93 percent of Virginia's public schools are fully accredited after meeting state benchmarks.

The Virginia Department of Education said Wednesday that all but 122 of the state's 1,836 schools met objectives on 2011-12 Standards of Learning tests and other assessments in English, mathematics, science and history, and, for high schools, graduation. That's down from 96 percent last year. 

As predicted, the decrease is in part due to more rigorous mathematics tests introduced during the last school year, officials said.

Among Virginia's high schools, 90 percent meet full accreditation standards, up from 86 percent last year when the state first included high school graduation and completion among its accountability measures. Eighty-eight percent of middle schools and 96 percent of elementary schools also are fully accredited.