Summary
Truitt Intermediate is a small elementary school in Chesapeake, VA, serving 256 students in grades 3–5, where 75% of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school sits inside Chesapeake City Public Schools, a district ranked in the top quarter of Virginia districts, but Truitt itself has historically performed in the bottom quintile of the state's elementary schools — ranking 887th out of 1,111 in 2025–26 with a 1-star rating, while its district earns a 4-star rating and a 74th-percentile ranking.
Academically, Truitt trails its own district in nearly every subject, and the gaps grow wider by 5th grade. In 5th grade science, just 40.7% of students are proficient versus 71.7% districtwide, and 5th grade reading sits at 56.7% compared with 77.3% across Chesapeake. The early grades are a relative bright spot: 3rd grade math (74.4%) matches the state average, and 3rd grade reading has climbed from 45.9% in 2022–23 to 65.4% in 2025–26. Compared with George W. Carver Intermediate, a similarly high-poverty school less than two miles away, Truitt outperforms Carver in 3rd and 4th grade math and reading, but lags in 5th grade math, science, and reading. Against schools in nearby Norfolk and Portsmouth such as Chesterfield Elementary, St. Helena Elementary, and Southside STEM Academy at Campostella, Truitt's proficiency rates are substantially higher across the board.
Truitt's biggest challenges are attendance and an unusual spending picture. Chronic absenteeism has dropped from 29.6% in 2020–21 to 17.6% in 2024–25, but remains above the district rate of 11.1% and the state rate of 14.8%. The school spends $15,318 per student — more than most neighbors — yet its student-teacher ratio of 16.1 is the highest among comparable schools like Carver (13.8), Thurgood Marshall Elementary (12.2), and Norfolk Highlands Primary (12.8). Still, test scores have risen across most subjects since 2022–23, and Truitt's ranking has climbed from the 9th percentile in 2016–17 to the 20th percentile today. The school appears to be making incremental progress — improving early-grade instruction and competing well with schools across city lines — even as 5th-grade achievement and attendance remain priorities.
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