Summary
Ruffner School is a public middle school located in Norfolk, Virginia, serving grades 3-8 with a total enrollment of 540 students. The school is part of the Norfolk City Public Schools district, which is ranked 109 out of 129 districts in Virginia and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger. Ruffner School has consistently ranked among the lowest-performing middle schools in the state, with a 0-star rating from SchoolDigger for the past several years.
Ruffner School significantly underperforms compared to the Norfolk City Public Schools district and the state of Virginia in standardized test scores across all grade levels and subject areas. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, the percentage of students proficient or better in SOL/Mathematics ranged from 12.77% in 8th grade to 33.33% in 3rd grade, compared to 50.48% and 72.89% at the state level, respectively. Ruffner School also has consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 15.7% to 26.6% in recent years, which is significantly higher than the district and state averages. Additionally, Ruffner School's student subgroups, including female students, male students, low socioeconomic status students, and disabled students, all perform significantly worse than their peers across the state, ranking in the bottom 10-20% of Virginia middle schools.
When comparing Ruffner School to the nearby schools, such as Azalea Gardens Middle, Norview Middle, and Academy for Discovery at Lakewood, it is clear that Ruffner is an outlier in terms of academic performance and other key metrics. These nearby schools generally outperform Ruffner School across the board, with higher test scores, lower chronic absenteeism rates, and better student subgroup performance. Despite the school's consistently low performance, the relatively low student-teacher ratio at Ruffner School suggests that there may be an opportunity to implement targeted interventions and support systems to address the specific needs of the student population.
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