Summary:
The Petersburg City Public Schools district in Virginia has only one middle school, Vernon Johns Middle, which serves students in grades 6-8. This school faces significant academic challenges, with student performance consistently falling below state and district averages on standardized tests.
Vernon Johns Middle has a student population that is predominantly African American (86.75%), with high levels of economic disadvantage, as evidenced by the 98.7% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch. The school's academic performance, as measured by SOL (Standards of Learning) test scores, is in the bottom 10% of middle schools statewide, with only 24.24% of 8th-grade students proficient or better in Mathematics, compared to the state average of 50.1%. This persistent underperformance suggests that the school is struggling to provide a high-quality education to its students, likely exacerbated by the high levels of economic disadvantage in the student population.
The data also raises questions about the equitable distribution of resources within the Petersburg City Public Schools district. Vernon Johns Middle's per-student spending of $8,038 for the 2020-2021 school year is likely lower than the state average, and the school's student-teacher ratio of 14.2 is slightly higher than the typical recommended ratio for middle schools. Addressing these resource and funding challenges, as well as the broader systemic factors impacting educational outcomes in the district, will be crucial for improving the academic performance of Vernon Johns Middle and providing a high-quality education for all students in the Petersburg City Public Schools district.
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