Williamsburg schools are wrestling with a new set of indicators on the state report card, which has left the district wondering just exactly where they stand academically. While retaining an effective rating, the change in the quantity of indicators leaves superintendent Jeff Weir at a loss to say exactly how well the district improved over the past year.

“This is the fifth consecutive year we’ve earned an effective rating,” said Weir. “We got 23 of 30 indicators. Last year we had 25 indicators, and we earned 22. The target moves dramatically every year.”

According to Weir, one of the less endearing aspects of the state report card continues to be a variance in indicators. Designed to rate a district in specific areas of education, the indicators rate factors such as attendance and graduation rate, as well as specific grade level performance, such as science, math, social studies or reading in specific grades. The problem, however, is that the indicators keep changing, leaving districts around the state in a the position of guessing what to focus on.