Cedar Road Elementary earned the top spot among Chesapeake public elementary schools in the 2027 U.S. News Best Elementary Schools rankings, released Oct. 20.
The school ranked No. 105 out of 1,118 ranked Virginia elementary schools, earning an overall score of 90.6 out of 100.
Cedar Road students posted 91% math proficiency on state assessments, above the Chesapeake City Public Schools average of 76% and Virginia's average of 70%.
In reading, 89% of Cedar Road students reached proficiency, compared with 74% districtwide and 70% statewide.
U.S. News rated Cedar Road's math performance "well above expectations" and its reading performance "somewhat above expectations." The performance measures account for student demographics.
The school ranked No. 78 statewide for math proficiency and No. 102 for reading proficiency.
Cedar Road, located at 1605 Cedar Road, serves 988 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. It has 55 full-time teachers, a student-teacher ratio of 18-to-1 and 99% of its teachers certified.
Dr. Jennifer Sagendorf serves as principal, according to the Virginia Department of Education's school directory.
How the rankings work
U.S. News evaluated nearly 47,000 public elementary schools nationwide. Its methodology weighs four factors equally: math proficiency, math performance, reading proficiency and reading performance.
The rankings use state assessment data from the 2023-24 school year, rather than the most recent testing cycle.
Chesapeake City Public Schools has 20 ranked elementary schools within a district of 48 schools serving 40,607 students, according to U.S. News.
Chesapeake schools earn state recognition
The district also received recognition in Virginia's more recent school accountability results.
Chesapeake Public Schools announced Oct. 7 that all its schools earned full accreditation from the Virginia Department of Education.
Twenty-three schools received the state's highest accountability rating, "Distinguished," up from seven the previous year, according to the district's announcement.
The district said its students exceeded statewide performance rates across all tested subject areas during the 2025-26 school year.
Virginia's accountability system evaluates schools using student achievement, growth and readiness measures. Those ratings are separate from the U.S. News rankings and reflect more recent assessment results.
Cedar Road's 2027 U.S. News ranking therefore provides an additional measure of the school's academic performance, based on an earlier testing period.
