Summary:
ZIP code 23832 is home to one high school, Lloyd C. Bird High, which serves grades 9–12 in Chesterfield, Virginia, as part of Chesterfield County Public Schools, a district ranked 73rd out of 131 in Virginia. With 2,131 students and 74% qualifying for free/reduced lunch, this large school has remained in the bottom 20% of Virginia high schools over the past three years, but its performance is not uniformly low — it shows clear strengths in several subjects while struggling in others.
Lloyd C. Bird’s graduation rate is 89.0%, nearly matching the district’s 89.2% but trailing the state’s 92.3%. Its dropout rate of 8.1% is well above the state’s 5.0%, and chronic absenteeism affects 20.6% of students, compared with 14.8% statewide. Overall SOL proficiency across 25 test cells averages 63.7%, below the district’s 69.8% and the state’s 67.3%. The school beats both district and state averages in several areas, including 9th-grade Geography (87.9% vs. 72.2% state), 12th-grade World History I (94.6% vs. 78.1%), and 11th-grade Algebra I (94.4% vs. 78.6%). However, major weaknesses appear in 11th-grade Writing, where only 25.8% are proficient versus 79.9% statewide, and in Geometry, with just 41.8% of 9th graders proficient compared to 85.9% statewide.
Perhaps the most striking pattern is the gap between foundational 9th-grade courses and upper-level retakes: 9th-grade Algebra I proficiency is 57.5% versus 80.2% statewide, while scores in the same subject for 11th graders are far stronger. Large year-over-year swings add to the picture — Biology 11th improved 20 points, but Writing 11th dropped 36.7 points, and Geometry 9th fell 21.9 points. These fluctuations suggest sensitivity to cohort changes or instructional shifts rather than a stable trend. Overall, Lloyd C. Bird has genuine bright spots in select subjects and some recent gains, but targeted support in early high school math, writing, and attendance would likely yield the biggest improvements for this high-need school.
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