Governor's Schools (Virginia)

Governor's Schools (Virginia)

The Governor's Schools are a collection of regional magnet high schools and summer programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia intended for gifted students.

Virginia Governor’s Schools provide some of the state’s most able students academically and artistically challenging programs beyond those offered in their home schools. With the support of the Virginia Board of Education and the General Assembly, the Governor’s Schools currently serve in their various forms more than 7,500 gifted students from all parts of the Commonwealth.

History

Begun in 1973 at the behest of Governor Linwood Holton, the first incarnation of the Governor's School program included summer residential sessions for 400 gifted students from across the commonwealth. From its beginnings, with three summer schools in 1973, the program has expanded to more than 40 sites throughout the commonwealth.

Academic-year Governor's Schools

The Virginia Department of Education, in conjunction with localities, sponsors regional academic-year Governor’s Schools that serve gifted high school students during the academic year. Currently, 18 academic-year Governor’s Schools provide students with acceleration and exploration in areas ranging from the arts, to government and international studies, to global economics and technology, and to mathematics, science, and technology.

They are established as “joint schools” by Virginia school law. As such, they are typically managed by a regional governing board of representatives from the school boards of each participating school division. The regional governing board is charged with developing policies for the school including the school’s admissions process. While these processes differ from school to school, all applicants are assessed using multiple criteria by trained evaluators who have experience in gifted education and the focus area of the specific academic-year Governor’s School.

Most schools specialize in a particular subject, and each serves a single region, only accepting students whose parents or guardians live within a predefined list of nearby cities or counties.

Flagship schools

Though there are 18 Governor's Schools designated by the Commonwealth for some amount of instruction during the academic year, many are intended only to supplement the education provided by local districts; these only offer a limited subset of classes, either on a partial-day basis, or in limited form to upperclassmen.

Two schools, the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (founded 1986) in Alexandria and the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies (founded 1991) in Richmond are full-fledged four-year university preparatory programs. The pair is considered by many to constitute two of the best public high schools in the country with both schools notably listed in Newsweek's Annual Public Elite list of high schools. Academic competitions in Virginia often witness these two schools meeting each other in the final rounds.

Admission to the two schools is highly sought-after and competitive. In the Northern Virginia region served by Thomas Jefferson, expensive courses were developed by private companies to help prepare students for the rigorous testing procedure. After public protests that this put poor and minority students at a disadvantage for acceptance, Fairfax County began offering similar free public courses.

As the acceptance rate is only about 20% at T.J., the school is currently looking to expand from 1600 students to 2000. Maggie Walker's acceptance rate is currently about 25% and enrolls nearly 700 students.

Full list of academic-year Governor's Schools

* Appomattox Regional Governor's School for the Arts And Technology "Grades 9-12"
* Blue Ridge Virtual Governor's School "Grades 9-12"
* Central Virginia Governor's School for Science and Technology "Grades 11-12"
* Chesapeake Bay Governor's School for Marine and Environmental Science "Grades 10-12"
* Commonwealth Governor's School "Grades 9-12"
* Governor's School for the Arts "Grades 9-12"
* Governor's School of Southside Virginia "Grades 11-12"
* A. Linwood Holton Governor's School "Grades 10-12"
* Jackson River Governor's School "Grades 11-12"
* Massanutten Governor's School for Integrated Environmental Science and Technology "Grades 11-12"
* Mountain Vista Governor's School "Grades 11-12"
* New Horizons Governor's School for Science and Technology "Grades 11-12"
* Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology "Grades 9-12"
* Piedmont Governor's School for Mathematics, Science, and Technology "Grades 11-12"
* Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology "Grades 9-12"
* Shenandoah Valley Governor's School "Grades 11-12"
* Southwest Virginia Governor's School for Science, Mathematics, and Technology "Grades 11-12"
* Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies "Grades 9-12"

Summer Residential Governor's Schools

Also offered are summer programs for exceptional Virginia students. These Governor's Schools last up to four weeks and are held at Virginia institutions of higher learning. Students reside on the campus, but take courses taught by teachers and professors from around the state. Depending on the program, students may or may not have choices in course selection. There is typically no relationship between the institution at which the Summer Governor's School is held and the program its other than providing the infrastructure support for what resembles a college lifestyle.

Selection is based on applications submitted by students during the school year, while they are attending their home high school. Often, the number of students accepted from any given high school is capped, depending on the population of the school. Selection to summer programs is limited to rising 11th and 12th graders.

Full list of Summer Residential Governor's Schools

The institutions at which the Summer Residential Governor's Schools are held can vary from year to year. The colleges indicated below are the most recent institutions selected for hosting the programs.
* Governor's School for the Humanities, "at Christopher Newport University"
* Governor's School for the Visual and Performing Arts, "at the Christopher Newport University"
* Governor's School for Mathematics, Science, and Technology, "at Lynchburg College"
* Governor's School Mentorships in Engineering and Marine Science, "at NASA's Langley Research Center"
* Governor's School for Agriculture, "at Virginia Tech"
* Governor's School for Life Sciences and Medicine "at Virginia Commonwealth University"

See also

* Governor's Foreign Language Academies

External links

* [http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/Govschools/ Virginia Governor's Schools Program]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • National Conference of Governor's Schools — The National Conference of Governor s Schools (NCoGS) is a United States national organization committed to establishing, supporting, and enriching summer residential governor s school programs. Its members are individuals involved in maintaining …   Wikipedia

  • Governor's Foreign Language Academies — Starting in 1986, the Virginia Department of Education has sponsored Governor s Foreign Language Academies, summer residential programs for Virginia s most motivated and talented foreign language students. As of 2006, approximately 6,600 students …   Wikipedia

  • Governor's School — may refer to:National organizations*National Conference of Governor s Schools, a national organization committed to establishing, supporting, and enriching summer residential governor s school programs.High schools* Virginia Governor s Schools… …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia — This article is about the U.S. state, the Commonwealth of Virginia. For other uses, see Virginia (disambiguation). Commonwealth of Virginia …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia — Para otros usos de este término, véase Virginia (desambiguación). Commonwealth of Virginia Mancomunidad de Virginia Estado&# …   Wikipedia Español

  • Governor's School of Southside Virginia — The Governor s School of Southside Virginia is a public magnet high school in Keysville, Virginia, Alberta, Virginia and Farmville, Virginia. It is one of 18 magnet Governor s Schools in Virginia.The students of The Governor s School of Southside …   Wikipedia

  • Governor's School for the Arts — Founded in 1987, The Governor s School for the Arts is one of 18 magnet Governor s Schools in Virginia. The school holds classes in Norfolk, Virginia. Admissions are competitive and based on an in person audition. Students are selected from the… …   Wikipedia

  • Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies — Address 1000 North Lombardy Street Richmond, Virginia 23220 …   Wikipedia

  • Mountain Vista Governor's School — for Science, Math Technology Mountain Vista Governor s School Logo Location 6480 College Street Warrenton, Virginia …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia — • One of the thirteen original states Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Virginia     Virginia     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”