5 Henrico schools earn Exemplar Performance Awards

Five Henrico County Public Schools have been recognized by the Virginia Board of Education as part of the 2024-25 Exemplar Performance Awards for exceeding state standards or demonstrating continuous improvement in key academic areas.

Echo Lake Elementary School received the Highest Achievement Award, while Henrico High School, Hermitage High School, Varina High School, and Douglas S. Freeman High School earned Continuous Improvement Awards.

The Exemplar Performance Awards recognize Virginia schools that surpass state requirements or continuously improve academic or school quality.

Echo Lake Elementary was one of just 92 accredited schools statewide to earn the Highest Achievement Award, which recognizes schools that surpass state benchmarks in reading, math, and science while ensuring high performance levels across all student demographic groups. Echo Lake demonstrated this by exceeding the state's expectations in the subjects and maintaining a low chronic absenteeism rate of 3.5% during the 2023-24 school year.

Henrico, Hermitage, and Varina High Schools were recognized for their significant improvements in math and reading scores by specific student groups. These schools saw pass rates increase by 10 percentage points or more for these groups since the 2018-19 school year.

Douglas S. Freeman High School received its award for achieving both an increased graduation rate and a decreased dropout rate, reflecting positive yearly changes and overall improvement since 2018-19.

Last year, among Henrico schools, Rivers Edge and Elizabeth Holladay elementary schools won the Highest Achievement and Continuous Improvement Awards, respectively.