York County reports large spring gains on new K–2 Virginia literacy screener

Christina Head, a retired associate director of elementary instruction and academic programs, presented York County School Division’s spring 2024–25 results for the Virginia Language and Literacy Screener (VALS) and highlighted year‑end improvements for kindergarten through second grade.

Head said the state-required screener measures foundational code-based literacy skills across three administrations — fall, midyear and spring — and assigns students to low-, moderate- or high-risk bands that rise in scaled-score cutoffs across administrations. She told the board VALS “measures critical literacy skills that children need to develop as readers” and that the assessment “is really designed to identify students that are at risk for reading difficulties.”

Head reported the division tested roughly 796 kindergarten students in spring and that 80 percent were categorized low risk, 10 percent moderate risk and 10 percent high risk — down from 24 percent high risk in the fall. In first grade the division tested 906 students and reported 78 percent low risk in spring compared with 55 percent in the fall; moderate and high risk were 11 percent each in spring. In second grade 908 students were assessed; Head said 71 percent were low risk in spring versus 46 percent in fall, with 13 percent high risk in spring compared with 19 percent in fall. She showed school‑level dashboards and demographic breakdowns indicating notable declines in high‑risk rates among English learners, economically disadvantaged students and students with disabilities.

Head explained the VALS scaled-score cutoffs increase from fall to spring and described how a student can show growth but still move into a higher risk band because the spring cutoffs are more rigorous. She described the screener’s adaptive items and said the division will use subtest results to target interventions and to identify students for summer academy or summer school. Head said families will be offered summer resources and that student reading plans will be developed for students in the high‑risk band.

She also noted state policy will require expansion of VALS next year to assess some fourth, fifth and middle school students who are at risk; the division must update its K–5 division literacy plan to a biennial plan by June 30 to incorporate those requirements and the interventions it will use.

Board members asked whether summer supports are individualized; Head said teachers and reading specialists will provide materials aligned to the subtest areas shown in the spring VALS data and that the Virginia Department of Education publishes an approved intervention list the division uses.

The presentation concluded with Head crediting division literacy coaches, coordinator Molly Brown and elementary teachers for the year’s gains and saying the Virginia Literacy Partnership at the University of Virginia plans adjustments and additional resources for the assessment in coming years.

York County board members did not take formal action during the presentation; the report will inform the division’s updated literacy plan and summer program assignments.