Danville schools report improved benchmark results, detail retake and remediation steps before SOL testing

Danville Public Schools staff reported April 10 that students’ performance on four district benchmark assessments has generally improved over the year and described steps the division has taken to support continued gains before Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) testing.

“At this point in the year, we have had 4 benchmark assessments,” said Miss McCraw while presenting the benchmark update. She told the board the division also conducted an SOL simulation in late March and that the results are “hot fresh data.”

McCraw said the district is using multiple reports — pass rates by subgroup and student‑data‑by‑question analysis — to identify high‑pass and low‑pass standards by grade and subject. She told the board that many of the lowest pass rates were for standards that had been most recently taught before the benchmark, and that retake opportunities increased pass rates where the district offered remediation and a second attempt.

The presentation described instructional responses to the data: a district professional development day on Feb. 17 focused on rigor and data use; weekly “SOL question of the day” materials for teachers; and an “all hands on deck” approach in which district office staff provide school‑requested supports on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “We also introduced retakes after our data presentation at request of our schools,” McCraw said, noting that many students passed after remediation and that some schools were spacing retests differently.

Board members asked questions about specific assessment formats and grading policies. Dr. Williams asked whether differences between eighth and ninth grade results could stem from test format rather than instruction; McCraw said some differences appeared linked to technology‑enhanced question formats and test‑taking strategies. Board member Miss Kynan asked whether benchmark and SOL simulation scores count toward classroom grades; McCraw said that is a school‑level decision and “generally, schools use them as what we call a gold grade, which is a test grade,” adding that each site decides how to incorporate scores.

McCraw described additional supports: retesting following remediation, school test coordinators and targeted co‑teaching and monitoring. She encouraged board members to visit classrooms to see the interventions underway and said feedback on the supports has been positive.

The report does not include final SOL results; McCraw said SOL simulation numbers are preliminary because not all retesting was complete at the time of the presentation.