State of the Division

Through the annual State of the Division report, Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) provides information to the school board and the community about our successes and challenges from the previous school year. The report serves as an accountability tool, whereby the school division seeks to track our progress toward meeting our goals and to identify and improve our weaknesses. The report also informs our decision-making, whether we are evaluating an instructional method, shaping a systemic practice, or considering budget priorities.

Each year, ACPS shares the State of the Division report as another opportunity to engage our stakeholders, including our students and their families, our employees, and our community members. We consider stakeholder feedback to be an essential part of the continuous improvement process, and we encourage community members to contribute to our ongoing efforts to learn, adapt and grow through participation in school board meetings, community meetings, and online surveys.

Virginia School Quality Profiles​​

For every school division and school in the Commonwealth, the Virginia Department of Education provides a School Quality Profile containing information about student achievement, college and career readiness, program completion, school safety, teacher quality, and other topics of interest to parents and the general public.

Access the school-based School Quality Profiles for Albemarle County Public Schools »

State of the Division 2024

A Journey Middle School robotics club member poses with her robot during a club meeting.
Greer students collect tree nuts to donate to the Department of Forestry's Tree Nursery.
Claire Meng competes in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

 

Dear students, staff, and families,

Welcome to the 2023-24 State of the Division. This annual report is an essential tradition in Albemarle County Public Schools. It gives us the chance to reflect on our achievements, address challenges and share our vision for the future.

Through this report, we provide transparent updates on our progress toward delivering a world-class education for every student.

The 2023-24 school year was a year defined by growth, innovation, and teamwork. After partnering with Bellwether Education Partners to review our instructional practices, we examined how we can address persistent achievement gaps within our schools. Bellwether identified five root causes of these gaps and provided recommendations for impactful changes to help us close them.

The audit pointed to several areas for improvement, including aligning instruction with rigorous tasks, strengthening professional development for our staff, investing in high-quality instructional materials (especially in reading and math), increasing transparency around division-level decisions, and enhancing systems for community feedback and involvement.

In response, we’ve already begun a series of projects to address these recommendations. With more than 20 project proposals identified and approximately $600,000 in our budget set aside to fund them, we’re seeing positive momentum toward closing achievement gaps and supporting student success. While it’s still early in this work, we’re committed to improving learning for every student—individually, as members of demographic groups, and as part of the ACPS community. For instance, during the 2021-22 school year, 12 out of our 45 student groups matched or exceeded the state’s average test scores. In 2022-23, 16 of our student groups matched or outperformed the state, and, in 2023-24, 20 of our student groups met or exceeded state averages. Our strategic plan’s title is Learning for All, and all means all! 

In this report, you’ll find highlights of our recent accomplishments, including improvements in on-time graduation rates and teacher retention. It also includes insights from our staff on our new K-5 literacy curriculum, HMH Into Reading

 
Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our schools.

Sincerely,
Dr. Matthew S. Haas
Superintendent

» Learn more about our 2024 State of the Division