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Chesapeake City Public Schools


At a glance
34thof 131 Virginia districts▼ 3
Better than 74% of Virginia districts
1421 Kristina Way
Chesapeake, VA 23320
·(757) 547-0153·All Virginia district rankings →
Statewide performance 2018–2026
2026: better than 74% of districts
48
Schools
39,046
Students
6
5-star schools
Top rankedHickory Elementary19th of 1,111 Virginia elementary schools
▲
Biggest riser
Southwestern Elementary up 83 spots statewide this year
◉
Smallest classes
Oscar Smith Middle 10.2 students per teacher
✦
Newly ranked this year
Crestwood Elementary School and 1 more
SchoolDigger ratings
5★
4★
3★
2★
1★
11 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (too few tested students)
Summary:

Chesapeake City Public Schools, a Virginia district serving roughly 39,000 students across 43 schools—26 elementary, 10 middle, and 7 high schools—ranks in the 74th percentile of Virginia districts with a 4-star rating, yet it is a district of stark extremes. The Hickory feeder pattern is among the state's best: Hickory Elementary (98th percentile), Hickory Middle (95th percentile), and Hickory High (97th percentile) each earn 5 stars, with Hickory High posting a 96.9% graduation rate. Grassfield High is another standout, ranked 9th in Virginia with 98.9% Algebra I proficiency. By contrast, Thurgood Marshall Elementary sits in the 8th percentile with just 41.7% third-grade reading proficiency, and Oscar Smith Middle and Indian River Middle fall in the bottom 20% of Virginia middle schools.

Chesapeake high schools graduate 93.5% of students on average, above the state average of 92.3%, with a dropout rate of just 2.6% compared to 5.0% statewide—but graduation rates range from 88.0% at Oscar F. Smith High to 97.7% at Great Bridge High. Chronic absenteeism tracks achievement almost perfectly: Hickory High (5.0%) and Grassfield High (6.0%) have the lowest rates, while Rena B. Wright Primary (28.6%) and Thurgood Marshall Elementary (24.3%) have the highest. Spending more per student does not guarantee better outcomes: Grassfield High spends $9,634 per student and ranks in the 97th percentile, while Thurgood Marshall Elementary spends $14,573 and ranks in the 8th percentile.

Some high-poverty schools outperform expectations: Western Branch High (72.8% FRL), Greenbrier Middle (73.9% FRL), and Jolliff Middle (73.8% FRL) all earn 4 stars. Advanced math is a district strength—six middle schools achieve 100% Geometry or Algebra I proficiency—but grade-level math lags badly at high-poverty middle schools like Indian River Middle, where only about 37% of 6th- and 7th-graders are proficient. History is a district-wide weakness, with VA/US History proficiency ranging from 22.4% at Deep Creek High to 48.5% at Western Branch High. For parents, the takeaway is clear: school quality in Chesapeake varies enormously by neighborhood, and the strong feeder patterns—Hickory, Grassfield, and Great Bridge—offer dramatically different outcomes than the Oscar Smith, Indian River, and Deep Creek areas.

Ranking:
Map legend
E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private




SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Virginia Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.

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