Virginia offers two main paths to a high school diploma. The Advanced Studies diploma requires 26 credits, including more rigorous coursework. The Standard diploma requires 22. Both satisfy graduation requirements. But the share of students earning each tells a story about access and expectation that the headline graduation rate never reveals.

In Goochland CountyET, 79.4% of 2023 graduates earned an Advanced Studies diploma. In Giles CountyET, it was 16.7%. That 62.7-point gap splits the state along lines of wealth and geography.

Northern Virginia at the Top, Southwest at the Bottom

The divisions clustered at the top of the Advanced Studies ranking are where you would expect them: Loudoun CountyET at 76.9%, Albemarle at 67.8%, Fairfax CountyET at 64.4%, Arlington at 64.3%. These are divisions with high household incomes, robust AP and IB course offerings, and a culture of four-year college enrollment.

The divisions at the bottom are in rural southwest Virginia and the southern tier: Giles at 16.7%, Bland at 18.8%, Charles City at 23.5%, Dickenson at 23.6%. Some of these divisions have fewer than 100 graduates. The coursework required for Advanced Studies may not even be offered.

Statewide, 55.2% of Virginia graduates in 2023 earned the Advanced Studies diploma. That means nearly half left with the Standard diploma or another credential.

What the Gap Means

A Standard diploma gets a student across the graduation stage. An Advanced Studies diploma signals preparation for selective college admissions and is the path Virginia designed for students aiming at four-year institutions. The gap between divisions is, in effect, a gap in what students are being prepared to do after high school.

The distribution shows a long left tail of divisions where fewer than a third of graduates earn the more rigorous credential. Many of these are small divisions where offering the full suite of Advanced Studies coursework is a staffing and budget challenge.

A Stable Statewide Picture

At the state level, the split between Advanced Studies and Standard has remained relatively stable. The statewide Advanced Studies share has hovered near 55% across the five-year window. Individual divisions have shifted, but the overall mix has not changed dramatically.

The split has held steady for five years. Whatever produces it — staffing constraints in small divisions, family expectations in wealthy ones, or the incentive structures built into Virginia's accountability system — shows no sign of budging.

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