Monongalia County reports gains in reading, math and science; AP and SAT results above state averages

Courtney Crawford, director of assessment, accountability and school counseling for Mon County Schools, told the Monongalia County Board of Education on Sept. 9 that the district posted measurable gains on state and college-readiness exams for the 2024–25 school year. "This is an exciting day because I get to share a lot of really great news about performance from our students from last school year," Crawford said. Crawford said Mont County saw a 3 percent increase in both reading and math and a 4 percent increase in science from the previous school year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, she reported an 8 percent increase in math, 7 percent in reading and 5 percent in science. Those gains contributed to Mont County earning a national "dynamic district" designation from Upswing Labs for districts demonstrating a minimum 3 percent average annual increase in third-grade reading proficiency; Upswing identified roughly 260 districts nationwide and nine in West Virginia, Crawford said. On the SAT school day, Crawford reported that 66 percent of juniors were predicted to earn a passing grade in entry-level college English, 33 percent met the math benchmark and 33 percent met both benchmarks. She also noted that Mont County eleventh graders ranked highest in West Virginia on SAT school day reading and mathematics. Crawford highlighted college-credit and scholarship indicators: 58 percent of SAT school-day test takers (445 students) met at least one SAT indicator for the West Virginia Promise Scholarship; 245 students were eligible for the Promise Scholarship based on test scores alone, and 41 students met two indicators. The district's Advanced Placement program administered 1,566 AP exams across more than 32 subjects with 48 AP teachers; Mont County reported an 83 percent pass rate (scores of 3–5), above the global 71 percent and the West Virginia rate of 65 percent, Crawford said. College Board-supplied figures estimate student savings of about $414,000 in tuition based on an average of $320 per credit hour and roughly 3,880 college credit hours potentially earned. Crawford said assessment data came from the West Virginia ACCESS/Cambium platform and the College Board for AP and SAT details. She told the board families can access score reports via the Cambium family portal and that the county will publish balanced scorecard indicators around the next State Board meeting on Oct. 8. Board members asked about charter school data; Crawford replied that public school results, including charter schools, are available on the state’s "WVa. Access"/WVDH dashboard and the College Board site for SAT/AP details. The presentation concluded with Crawford outlining upcoming county testing windows and that staff will notify families and set local administration schedules.